Council adopts ordinance to formalize budget approach for three charitable trust funds

The City Council adopted Bill No. 07-07-26 to add a section directing that certain charitable trust funds be utilized to the maximum benefit for their intended purposes; the ordinance was recorded as No. 6041. City Clerk Schneider and City Manager Schrage explained the ordinance creates a formal application and budgeting process for the Charles W. Stevenson Trust Fund and extends that formal process to the Matthew Brown and William E. Crissey trusts while preserving separate fund balances and their legal restrictions governed by Resolution 1941.

Schrage described the proposed calculation: after completion and acceptance of the city’s annual audit, the audited year-end fund balance, reduced by previously authorized but unpaid awards and legally committed expenditures, will form the amount available for appropriation for the upcoming fiscal year. Schrage said staff will review balances in excess of minimums and, where appropriate, consider a one-time spend-down while leaving required principal amounts intact. Councilmember Jones moved the bill to second reading and it was adopted following the required readings.