Kenyon staff propose central capital fund and aim to cut levy toward 10% after budget workshop

Kenyon — City staff recommended centralizing capital spending into the capital improvement (202) fund and identified roughly $95,000 in department-level savings that could be combined with capital reductions to lower the preliminary levy.

At a remote budget workshop, staff said moving fragmented capital transfers into one 202 fund would make fund balances and planned purchases easier to track. "Putting all this into a 202 fund is helpful because you can look and see what's in it," a city staff member said when explaining how department balances and transfers would be tracked.

Why it matters: staff told the council that the current approach—moving capital amounts between operating and capital accounts—has obscured available balances and complicated multi-year equipment planning. Centralizing capital would let staff assign clear department buckets (public safety, streets, parks/pool) inside the 202 fund and avoid treating transfers as “built‑in savings” that are hard to audit.

What staff proposed: managers reviewed line items department by department and suggested a set of near-term adjustments (fire training and IT trims, a reduction to street maintenance, and several small capital postponements) that together totaled about $95,000 in identified savings. Staff ran a quick model showing that removing roughly $225,000 from the general fund, then trimming capital allocations, would bring the levy close to 11%; staff said further capital reductions could push the prelim levy to 10% before final adjustments in October–December.

Council direction and next steps: council asked staff to bring back updated spreadsheets after an on-site review Sept. 11 and 15 with Abdo and the finance team to reconcile coding and fund balances. Staff committed to returning revised numbers and a recommended preliminary levy at the next meeting. The council did not adopt any formal motion during the workshop.

Budget context and constraints: staff cautioned that some capital needs (public safety vehicles, pool and street equipment) are time-sensitive and that shifting costs across years affects long-term replacement plans. They also noted that part of the capital transfers represent multi‑party commitments (for example, township contributions to fire apparatus). The workshop closed with staff and council agreeing to continue line‑by‑line work before setting the prelim levy.