TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Year-End Budget Amendment for 2005-06
DATE: June 26, 2006
The attached year-end budget amendments reflect changes in conditions, correction of errors, and technical accounting and budget adjustments for the General Fund that do not affect the overall current revenue and expenditure estimates for the funds as presented in the Manager’s Recommended Budget for 2005-06. Below is a brief description of recommended adjustments by fund.
General Fund
In the General Fund, the attached amendment would:
Increase grant revenues and appropriations by $18,133 to reflect the actual amount of the Federal Emergency Management Grant for services provided by the Town of Chapel Hill Fire Department in response to Hurricane Katrina.
Increase the Town Attorney’s budgetary appropriation by $6,097 to cover the Attorney’s salary increase as authorized by the Town Council. The additional cost would be funded from additional revenue estimated for the current year.
Increase budget for revenues and appropriations for traffic studies by $116,000 to reflect revenues received, but unbudgeted. Traffic impact analyses are required as a part of development applications and are required to be prepared by a consultant rather than the developer. The fees the Town charges the developers cover the actual cost of the traffic impact studies.
Increase revenues from insurance claims by $12,984 for a reimbursement we received for damage done to traffic equipment.
Increase the transfer to the Grants Fund by $25,000 to provide the local match for the Mobility Report Card. The additional cost would be funded from additional sales tax revenue estimated for the current year.
Increase revenues for the reimbursement for land ($782,200) that was purchased in the General Fund before the budget was established for the Town Operations Center. Transfer a portion of the funds to the Capital Improvements Fund to reimburse the Fund for the financing charges for the land recorded before the Town Operations Center budget was established ($529,682). Transfer the balance to the Town Operations Center project in the Public Works Bond Fund as additional contingency for the project ($259,518). This entry corrects a technical error and results in no change in available funds in the General Fund.
Grants Fund
Increase revenues from State Department of Transportation Grant by $90,000 and appropriations for the Highland Woods Road Project by the same amount. The grant and the project were budgeted in 2004-05, but the project was not begun until the current year.
Increase grants by $125,000 for Mobility Report Card grant, including local match of $25,000.
Library Gift Fund
Increase appropriations by $2,600 for the costs related to the purchase of shelving and library books from a gift made in 2004-05 by the Friends of the Library.
Housing Fund
Reduce federal subsidy to the Housing Fund by $37,072 to $1,040,017. Appropriated fund balance of $37,072 would be used to offset the reduction.
Multi-Year Capital Projects Fund
Increase the Multi-Year Capital Projects Fund by $4,133 for the receipt of a Gates Technology Grant for library technology improvements.
Transitional Housing Fund
Capital Improvements Project Fund
Public Works Facility Bond Fund
Technical corrections to the Town Operations Center budget in the Public Works Bond Fund are recommended as follows:
Because we are recording future sales tax reimbursements at the time that we make vendor payments, we need to reduce equally the budget for building costs and revenues from sales tax reimbursements. The change in the way we record the sales tax has no effect on the actual total budget available for the project.
Eliminate the budget for Housing Department facilities included in the Town Operations Center Budget, because that budget is also included as a part of the Housing Capital Project budget.
The budget for debt service on the Town Operations Center is currently included in the Town’s Debt Service Fund. Because the project is not yet complete, it is more appropriate to make the debt service payment from the project budget, since the debt for the project is recorded with the project. Once the project is complete, we would make debt service payments from the Debt Service Fund.
A portion of the land for the Town Operations Center was purchased originally in the General Fund in 2001, after the Council adopted a reimbursement resolution, but before we had a project budget. Financing for that land was funded from the Capital Improvements Fund. Once we record that land purchase in the Town Operations Center, as we have budgeted, the additional $259,518 (the difference between the cost of the land and the total loan pay-off amount) would be allocated to the Town Operations Center project contingency.
The attached budget amendment also would permit reimbursements to the General Fund and Capital Improvements Fund for the land and the land financing. The reimbursements technically correct the General Fund and Capital Improvements Fund budgets, but do not result in any additional resources in those funds. The available difference between the cost of the land and the financing has been transferred to contingency in the Town Operations Center Budget in the Public Works Bond Fund.
Debt Service Fund
Transfer the budget for the current year’s debt service payments for the Town Operations Center to the Town Operations Center Project and out of the Debt Service Fund as described above.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council enact the attached year-end budget amendments for 2005-06.
An Ordinance To Amend “The Ordinance Concerning Appropriations And The Raising Of Revenue For The Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2005” (2006-06-26/O-1a)
An Ordinance To Amend The Project Ordinance For The 1996 Public Works Facility Bonds (2006-06-26/O-1b)
An Ordinance To Amend The Transitional Housing Program Project Ordinance (2006-06-26/O-1c)
An Ordinance To Amend The Capital Projects Ordinance For Various Capital Projects (2006-06-26/O-1d)