06-24-19 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING June 24, 2019 DEPARTMENTAL AND ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS IN 2019 OF $960,000 FROM EMS CAPITAL FUND (#287), $177,475 FROM CENTURY CENTER OPERATING FUND (#670), AND $63,000 FROM CENTURY CENTER CAPITAL FUND (#671). Councilmember Karen White, chair of the Personnel and Finance Committee, reported that they met this afternoon and send these bills forward with favorable recommendations. Dan Parker, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, South Bend, IN, served as the presenter for these bills. Mr. Parker stated, This is part of a routine quarterly budget appropriations process where we come before Council and request transfers between various funds, as well as additional appropriations for unexpected expenses, or just capital and administrative types of items we need to appropriate. So, this is a relatively routine appropriations request. Mr. Parker continued, Getting into the bills, Bill No. 16-19 is our budget transfer bill. This bill does not increase or decrease appropriations, it simply transfers money between different cost categories within already appropriated funds. There are a number of different items on here and I would be happy to discuss any of them that Council may have questions on. Councilmember John Voorde opened the floor to Council Members for questions regarding Bill No. 16-19. There were none. Mr. Parker continued, Bill No. 17-19 is a request for additional appropriations for our governmental funds. There are a number of different items on here that are separated into our categories of items that are supported by new revenue, items that are capital projects, and then some administrative clean-up types of items.The largest items include the$1 million appropriation for spending of a grant that the City received from the Leighton Foundation for the My SB Parks &Trails Initiative. Moving onto the capital projects,there is a$1.8 million additional appropriation request for the implementation of the City's new accounting software, our ERP System. The original plan was to lease that implementation cost and actually take out a loan for it but given the City's cash position, the City can avoid a significant amount of interest costs by paying for it up front. So, we ask for an additional appropriation for that. Then finally, there is a $3.3 million request which is simply to appropriate the funds for the Zoo bond capital. That is a bond we took out in 2018 but we never formally appropriated the spending of the proceeds from that bond. So, we are requesting the Council to allow us to do that. I would be happy to answer any questions on those items, or on the smaller items, of this bill. Councilmember John Voorde opened the floor to Council Members for questions regarding Bill No. 17-19. Councilmember Karen White stated, I would just like for our City Controller to explain the timeframe of the Zoo bond and why we are now doing it. Mr. Parker stated, We originally issued the bond and received the proceeds in 2018 for the Zoo capital. Originally, because the structure of the bond where we are responsible for the repayment of the bond but not necessarily responsible for the distribution of the payments, we had accounted for that off of our books. Given the putting together of our recent financial statements, The State Board of Accounts recommended that we actually account for the proceeds of that bond, as well as the payment and the distributions to put the capital projects on our accounting books. So, we would like to have those formally appropriated. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, I would like to follow up on a question asked in Committee. You spoke about continued commitment at the same level with the bond as approved. I would like to inquire,just going forward,if Council as a whole could be kept in the conversations with updates with regard to any questions being considered at the operating level for the contract itself. My understanding is that there is some leeway there to relook at that in light of other funding sources and I think it would behoove us to actually look at that in light of the changed circumstances. 11