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Council trims donation threshold, boosts reporting after debate on transparency
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Summary
Council amended the city's donations policy to require reporting of donations over $500 quarterly and to notify council within 30 days for donations above $5,000, aligning some requirements with behested-payment rules while preserving staff operational authority.
Assistant Finance Director Christine Andrews presented proposed updates to Brentwood’s donations policy on March 31, recommending clearer acceptance procedures, a donation-acceptance form, donor acknowledgments that meet IRS requirements, and annual reporting for monetary gifts greater than $500.
Council members pressed staff about transparency and about the intersection with state "behested payments" reporting (which uses a $5,000 threshold for certain solicitations). Several members proposed lowering the council-notification threshold from $10,000 to $5,000 and moving donation reporting from annual to quarterly.
The city attorney and city manager advised that lowering the threshold increases council visibility but also increases administrative workload; the city attorney suggested a compromise requiring staff to accept donations up to the manager’s threshold and report donations above a chosen threshold to council within a set period. The council adopted a motion to amend policy language so donations over $5,000 would be reported to council within 30 days as an FYI and that donations over $500 would be reported quarterly.
Council members said they prefer staff to do solicitation for events such as Community Day of Service to avoid elected-official behested-payment reporting obligations; staff confirmed the policy distinguishes donations from sponsorships and that reportability depends on solicitation by an eligible official or committee.
The motion to adopt the amended donations policy passed by voice vote.
