City Council Minutes 2017 10 10 SP

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City Council Meeting Minutes October 10, 2017 Page 2 of 6 from $2M to $500K for 2017 — 2021 Some of this is from the $2M open space acquisition in 2017. No acquisitions are budgeted for 2018 and later Councilmember Stolzmann noted the capital costs from the Open Space & Parks Fund could be paid from the General Fund Director Watson agreed; it is simply a way to record it Director Watson stated if we keep the same budgeting for 2018 and beyond with no transfers from the General Fund, the deficit will accumulate dramatically He noted options for funding the deficit, adding it is easier for the General Fund to have a standard recurnng transfer so it is predictable and can be budgeted for Doing this would keep the fund balance at the minimum balance required. Each year the Council could determine if they want to transfer more or less depending on the needs that year. There are many ways to do it; City Council just needs to determine how to do this. Councilmember Loo asked if we don't fund everything out of the Open Space & Parks Fund how will we know what qualifies as an Open Space & Parks Fund project and what doesn't. Director Watson stated in the past we have funded whatever we reasonably could out of Open Space & Parks Fund, then the City looks to other sources for anything above that Councilmember Loo noted she is frustrated in how items are determined to be eligible for the Open Space & Parks Fund; it appears subjective Director Stevens stated it is probably somewhat subjective; we make judgements on each project to determine if it fits in the fund Councilmember Maloney stated this is about funding deficits, not programmatic issues City Council needs to keep the conversation focused on understanding what the expenses should be and what should be the transfer from the General Fund When we set the budget, we decided all of these expenditures are necessary. Every year we need to address the programmatic issues and decide what is necessary or not He noted it is hard to set a policy now for future budgets. Councilmember Maloney asked if we need to make cuts in the program to address some of the deficit. Councilmember Stolzmann stated that is something to discuss when we do the next biennial budget, but we need a policy now. Councilmember Stolzmann liked the idea of covenng the operational deficit from the General Fund She stated it was never intended that the tax be the only funding for open space and parks. She suggested continuing to support parks from the General Fund by using the 2007 levels (adjusted for inflation) and include tax revenue on top of that. She stated she is open to reclassifying some CIP projects to other funds. She would like to see a more conservative approach as to how we classify things as capital costs She is also open to a transfer from the capital fund if needed