City Council Minutes 2015 02 03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes February 3, 2015 Page 11 of 16 Based on these assumptions, under the proposed policy the City should maintain a reserve of about $4.0 million in the Open Space and Parks Fund. This amount would change based on changes in land value over time and on acquisitions; once the City and its open space partners have acquired larger candidate properties, the total acreage and value of smaller parcels would likely be lower. The proposed reserve balance to maintain could also be lower. With the 2015 budget and current forecast, the reserve in the Open Space and Parks Fund will drop to about $2.8 million in 2015 and then gradually increase to about $3.8 million in 2019. Thus, under the current forecast the Open Space and Parks Fund reserve would be Tess than the policy goal until at least 2020. Fiscal Impact: The proposed policy sets a specific dollar amount to maintain as reserves in the Open Space and Parks Fund, limits expenditures for specified purposes, and specifies in the event the year -end reserve balance in the Open Space and Parks Fund is lower than the target reserve, City Council shall evaluate options and commit to a course of action and time frame to restore the reserve balance to the specified level. The Open Space and Parks Fund reserves would not satisfy the proposed policy until after 2019. One option to build a higher reserve in the Open Space and Parks Fund, while building the General Fund reserve, would be to transfer funds from the Capital Projects Funds to the Open Space and Parks Fund. Under this approach, it would be possible to eliminate the General Fund "build reserve" transfers to the Open Space and Parks Fund, and instead provide a "build reserve" transfer from the Capital Projects Fund to the Open Space and Parks Fund in 2016 through 2019 in order to reach a reserve balance of $4.0 million by 2019. This would involve the following transfers: 2016 = $300,000 2017 = $600,000 2018 = $600,000 2019 = $300,000 City Manager Fleming requested the City Council discuss and provide comments and direction on the draft policy. If Council is interested in the optional approach for building reserves, it can be implemented through the 2016 annual budget process. He noted the policy was unanimously supported by the Open Space Advisory Board. COUNCIL QUESTIONS Council member Leh inquired whether staff is requesting direction on the proposed policy, but not the proposed reserve. City Manager Fleming confirmed staff is seeking direction of the proposed policy. Mayor Muckle asked City Manager Fleming to explain why the amount of money would be transferred out of the General Fund to get to $4 million is not the same amount of