Sponsor: Finance
Title
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Funding for County Priorities
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Recommendation
recommendation
1. Approve funding and related transfers of $5,150,000 for the following county priorities
a. $1,000,000 in a project for investigations budgeted in the Compliance and Ethics division of the County Manager’s Office.
b. $500,000 to replenish capital funds reallocated for operating expenses in 2021.
c. $150,000 for critical county systems in Information Services.
d. $500,000 for tax system software maintenance in Property Tax, Records, and Election Services.
e. $2,000,000 for the Information Technology Portfolio and the Technology Governance Committee in Information Services.
f. $1,000,000 to support space consolidation efforts in Community Corrections.
2. Authorize the County Manager to account for the investigations funding listed above as a project budget in the Compliance and Ethics division of the County Manger’s Office.
3. Authorize the County Manager to enter into agreements, execute change orders and amendments to agreements in accordance with the county’s procurement policies, provided the amounts are within the limits of funding.
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Background and Rationale
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At the end of 2021, the county had an approximately $9 million positive variance of appropriations versus actual spending and revenue in the county levy funds. This funding fell to the general fund fund balance at the end of the year. After review of these funds various one-time, high priority items were identified as critical needs to fund with the year-end positive variance.
• $1 million for investigations. There is currently no dedicated budget for investigations. As a result, investigations are not always completed due to funding restrictions. Allocating this funding to a project will create a source of funds for several years, alleviating annual budget pressures to fund this work.
• $500,000 for public works capital. Revenues in the Public Works department came in more favorably than anticipated, leading to a large positive variance on the operations side for the department. This action allows some of this positive variance to be used to replenish funds reallocated from the capital budget in 2021.
• $150,000 for critical county systems. Funding is needed to facilitate and support the critical county systems program run by the capability teams throughout the enterprise. Funding will be used to support small initiatives that the individual teams may require to support a product and to provide level one support to address issues. It could also fund a technical resource for a particular business area, or to assist in creating interfaces to other software packages if/when needed.
• $500,000 for tax system software maintenance. Funding is also allocated for software maintenance costs in Property Tax, Records, and Election Services. The department does not have funding for this maintenance in their operating budget and would need to make service reductions to accommodate these costs.
• $2 million for Information Technology Portfolio / Technology Governance Committee. Funds are allocated to support the Information Technology Portfolio. This funding will be governed by the Technology Governance Committee and support critical, countywide Information Services needs.
• $1 million for community corrections space consolidation. This funding will allow the Community Corrections department to consolidate space in Metro Square, supporting the county’s continued commitment to reducing our physical footprint.
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County Goals (Check those advanced by Action)
☒ Well-being ☒ Prosperity ☒ Opportunity ☒ Accountability
Racial Equity Impact
While funding these high priority items will further the work of the county broadly, including supporting racial equity ideals and goals, there is no direct racial equity impact of this action.
Community Participation Level and Impact
Community will be informed of these funding choices and the work enabled by this funding, but there is no direct community engagement associated with this action.
☒ Inform ☐ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower
Fiscal Impact
This action would approve the use of over $5 million of the county’s general fund fund balance. The year-end 2021 unassigned fund balance is $169.3 million, which represents 3.8 months of operating expenses. This change would result in having 3.7 months of operating expenses on hand, still above our fund balance minimum of two months.
All funding is one-time and would not commit the county to expenditures in future years.
Last Previous Action
None.
Attachments
None.