Orangeville staff propose segregating Bigelow Courts and road funds as tight utility transfer leaves little slack

At a May 14 Orangeville City meeting, finance presenter Gary reviewed the city's tentative general, utility, capital projects, municipal building authority and perpetual care budgets and recommended moving large, project‑specific funds out of the general fund into dedicated capital project accounts to avoid commingling. Gary said the change will make revenues and donations for major efforts such as the Bigelow Courts project easier to track and prevent those funds from appearing as unrestricted cash.

Gary told the council the city will create separate bank accounts for major projects and for restricted road funding, including Class E road funds and state/local transportation funds, because those dollars must be carried over from year to year and are not available for general spending. "So we're going to try to put those in its own bank account and then just kind of segregate that whole... big projects," Gary said.

The presenter also recommended excluding anticipated grants from the baseline budget until they are actually awarded, then opening and amending the budget to add both the grant revenue and related expenditures. He argued the approach will keep the budget simpler and avoid budgeting revenue that does not materialize.

Gary warned the council that planned transfers leave limited flexibility. He described a transfer of about $43,500 from the utility fund that would leave approximately $3,800 in that fund after the move. "There's $3,800 more money. That's all there is. Literally," he said, urging council members to pair any midyear additions with offsetting cuts.

He estimated that most Bigelow Courts work would be completed this year and suggested only about $60,000 might need to be carried into the next fiscal year, but said that figure is an estimate that could change.

Mayor (presiding) and council members asked clarifying questions; Gary said he had met with department heads and would provide updated capital project figures (in particular to reflect pickleball donations) before the next meeting. He said the council's objective was to adopt the tentative budget at the current session and then meet in June for a longer meeting to adopt a final amended budget and complete a fraud risk assessment, though the transcript does not record a final adoption vote that night.

The council proceeded to the public‑comment agenda item after the presentation.