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Gary committee debates reallocating community development funds to pay summer youth and correct vehicle spending
Summary
City staff told the Ways and Means Committee they would reallocate community development supplement funds to expand a summer youth jobs program and correct accounting for three code-enforcement vehicles; the interim director said the $79,000 is a retroactive correction for vehicles already purchased.
The Gary City Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 23 heard a proposal to reallocate community development supplement funds to pay summer youth and to correct the accounting for recently purchased code-enforcement vehicles. City staff described the $79,000 machinery-and-equipment line as an accounting correction for vehicles already bought.
City Controller (read materials to the committee) said the ordinance CPO 20 26 26 would move money into current charges to support summer programming and would allocate $79,000 to machinery and equipment to reflect vehicles. “That 79,000 that’s down in machinery and equipment, that’s what that allocation would be to make sure that our code enforcement officers have what they need to be able to service our neighborhoods,” the controller said.
Yvette Williams, interim director for community development, told the committee the $79,000 is a correction, not a new purchase. “So the 79,000 is actually a correction to a line item of vehicles that was already purchased,” Williams said. She said the dollars need to be reallocated to place the vehicles in the proper 44 series account.
Committee members pressed for context and numbers. The controller said the community development supplement fund is a nonrestricted reserve with about $1,000,000 on hand; members asked for an itemized ledger so they could see base balances and the percentage impact of this amendment. The controller said the change is intended to support a summer youth effort and leave flexibility for future programming while ensuring older code-enforcement vehicles are accounted for.
On program specifics, the controller said a partnership with the Center for Workforce Innovation will employ 75 Gary youth, selected by counselors and the city's youth services coordinator, Marcus Steele. “The budget for that project is 268,500,” the controller said, adding that students are paid $15 an hour for 20 hours a week.
Because the $79,000 was already spent on vehicles, Attorney Renzer told the committee that any approval will require a motion making the appropriation retroactive to the date the dollars were expended. Committee members asked for additional documentation: how many vehicles were purchased (Williams said three), whether they were new (she said they were not), and for price details (roughly in the $20,000 range per unit, Williams said she would provide full information).
The committee did not adopt a final ordinance at the meeting; staff said they will provide an itemized backup and return to the council for formal approval, including a retroactive-motion line as required by the attorney.
The council is expected to consider the ordinance and the requested retroactive language at a forthcoming meeting once staff supplies the requested documentation.
