Wasilla council adopts Ordinance 26-06 to transfer committed funds to enterprise/capital accounts

The Wasilla City Council adopted Ordinance Serial 26-06, which authorizes transfers from the general fund committed fund balance to multiple enterprise funds to fund capital improvement projects adopted in the FY2026 budget.

Finance consultant Mr. Leonard, appearing by phone, told the council that capital appropriations for enterprise funds had been included on the expenditure side of last year’s budget but the corresponding revenue-side transfers from the general fund were never recorded. "This ordinance would transfer over $8 million to each of the funds to have the balance between what was appropriated on the capital side on the enterprise funds," he said. He described the action as correcting bookkeeping so enterprise funds can reflect the intended capital funding.

Council Member Craftton moved to adopt the ordinance; Council Member Codle seconded. The chair asked for objections and, hearing none, stated the motion was adopted by voice vote.

Staff explained the mismatch arose from a prior budgeting approach that deferred transfers until funds were needed. City finance staff said a new policy now avoids automatic transfers of appropriated general-fund capital to enterprise funds until expenditures require them, to reduce the risk of leaving funds artificially unbalanced.

Why it matters: the transfers align enterprise fund accounting with prior capital commitments and affect the city’s committed fund balance calculations. Council asked staff to provide updated committed-fund-balance calculations following passage.

Next steps: finance will provide revised committed fund balance calculations at a future meeting.