Council considers $10,000 discretionary fund

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The duties associated with public service aren’t always free. In Maricopa, city staff has taken notice.

In the city’s draft budget for fiscal year 2013-2014, a pool of funds has been set aside for city councilmembers to draw from for activities that help advance the city’s goals. At a budget review workshop Thursday, city staff explained to councilmembers the $10,000 fund could be used to pay for last minute, unexpected expenses – hosting lunches with regional partners, paying for a seat at an event, covering travel costs and more.

Assistant City Manager Danielle Casey told the seven-member council that unforeseen expenses for such activities has come up in the past, forcing the city to draw from other pools in the budget to cover costs.

“We’ve been restricted in the past to kind of stealing from other budgets and using it and going ‘OK, we’ve got a meals budget over here, we’ll pull back on this and we’ll spend it on this, because it has to do with food,’” Casey said. “We’ve had to get really creative, so we’re trying to do something that allows us to not have to rob-from-Peter-to-pay-Paul kind of thing.”

Casey said city staff’s intention is to make the fund available for councilwide activities – not an expense that would be of interest to a sole council member.

The city’s elected officials each have an individual discretionary fund they can use for expenses incurred while working in their roles as city council members. Mayor Christian Price has a $10,000 discretionary fund, while the other six council members have $8,000 at their disposal.

But for money to be pulled from the new fund, the activity would have to affect every councilmember.

Tom Duensing, director of finance and administrative services, said this new councilwide fund would be for unexpected expenses that council members “really need to address quickly.”

That means bypassing the formal process for approving fund transfers.

For example, the city has a contingency fund for the coming fiscal year that’s currently budgeted at $2 million. Duensing said when a particular city department needs money from the fund, the transfer from the fund to that department’s budget requires council approval – an action that can only take place at a public council meeting.

But with money already in the mayor and council budget, no approval is necessary.
“It’s already there,” he said.

During the budget review meeting on Thursday, some councilmembers were concerned about having money at their fingertips.

Councilwoman Peggy Chapados said she wanted to see more oversight of the fund, adding that the budget finance and operations committee should look into how exactly the funds are distributed.

“I’m not comfortable that we’ve got $10,000 sitting there and it’s kind of up for grabs at this point,” Chapados said.

Exactly who will oversee the fund – whether it’s the mayor, a staff member or a committee – has not been decided.