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Ordinance proposed to prioritize completion grants when reserves exceed target; committee Q&A focuses on thresholds
Summary
Council Member Lanen presented an ordinance to direct excess operating revenues above the 7% reserve cap toward unfunded cash completion grants before recapture; staff said a 2024 baseline unassigned fund balance of about $369 million will act as an additional guardrail.
Council Member Lanen told the Rules Committee on April 6 he would introduce ordinance 2026 213 to govern how the city uses excess operating revenues once the operating reserve target (5–7%) is met. "Instead of it kind of flow[ing] down to whatever recapture process," he said, the ordinance would prioritize unfunded cash completion grant obligations.
Committee members questioned whether emergency reserves were affected; staff clarified the change applies only to the operating reserve range (5–7%). Officials said the ordinance would create a subfund to track completion-grant liabilities and that monies would not be applied beyond outstanding commitments. Staff cited the current unassigned fund balance baseline (roughly $369 million as of 2024) as a second guardrail so funds would only flow to completion grants after both the percentage and baseline thresholds were surpassed.
Council Member Lanen planned a noticed meeting to present more detail. Members generally praised the intent to add fiscal guardrails and asked for additional technical detail at a forthcoming session.
Ending note: The committee signaled support for further discussion and scheduled a noticed meeting to review ordinance details and fiscal modeling before final action.
