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Alpine council accepts 2023–24 audit, approves multiple ordinances and begins budget ordinance discussion
Summary
Council accepted the FY2023–24 audit (clean opinion), unanimously approved several second/final reading ordinances, authorized on-call grant-writing services and debated a first-reading budget ordinance that bundled $902,000 in notes for capital needs; one council member voted against the budget reading, citing lack of prior council transparency.
At its June 10 meeting the Alpine City Council accepted the fiscal year 2023–24 audit from Gibson, Rudolph & Patterson LLC and took multiple formal votes on ordinances and resolutions.
Audit acceptance: Marlene Strickler presented the audit and said the city received an unmodified (clean) opinion for FY2023–24 and noted one finding related to the late audit attributable to finance-staff turnover. The audit cover included financial graphs showing general-fund revenue increases from property tax and comments about hotel-tax and sales-tax fluctuations. The audit presentation also highlighted management recommendations for procurement, accounting procedures, receivable collection and software issues. Council voted unanimously to accept the audit.
Ordinances and resolutions: Council approved second-and-final readings of several ordinances (petitions procedure ordinance, alcohol-sales changes in C-1 district, and zoning/nonconforming-use ordinance) unanimously. It approved the first reading of an enterprise-fund financial-management ordinance (rates, reserves, reporting), and heard the first reading of an ordinance appropriating taxable limited-tax notes (~$902,000) to fund capital items across streets, parks, gas and water enterprise needs; the vote on the budget-reading item was recorded with Councilmembers Patino, Martinez, Rufus and Escobedo voting in favor and Councilmember Stevens voting against.
Grant-writing resolution: Council authorized the city manager to procure on-call grant-writing services to support municipal infrastructure projects, with no immediate budget commitment; council emphasized that any contract would not exceed budgeted or otherwise authorized funds without further council approval.
Capital borrowing debate: City manager listed proposed uses for roughly $902,000 in borrowings, including street equipment (street broom, Kubota mule), park and pool projects, water backflow and the liner project, HVAC and ice-machine replacements for the gas department, and backup gas regulators. Councilmember Stevens objected to bundling numerous disparate purchases without prior full discussion and said he had previously voted against adding a large borrowing without clearer council-level transparency. Staff clarified which items would be charged to enterprise funds versus general fund and noted many items were high-priority technical needs.
Why it matters: The audit provides the council and public an accounting of FY2023–24 finances (clean opinion), while the ordinance votes and the borrowing proposal will shape capital spending and long-term liabilities. The votes advanced several regulatory changes and opened the path for the city to pursue a mix of grant and borrowing strategies to finance infrastructure projects.
Next steps: The chartered ordinance for the borrowings will return for subsequent readings and final votes; staff will provide more detailed accounting and CIP prioritization as requested by council.
