02/13/2012 Finance CommitteeEDMONDS CITY COUNCIL
FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Elected Officials Present:
Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember (Chair)
Frank Yamamoto, Councilmember
Dave Earling, Mayor
February 13, 2012
Staff Present:
Shawn Hunstock, Finance Director
Meeting called to order at 3 PM in the Fourtner Room, City Hall, 1215`" Avenue North, Edmonds.
Item #1— Discussion regarding Human Resources staffing proposal
Mayor Earling went over the details regarding staffing. Finance Chair Buckshnis asked if this would be
difficult for Park and Rec. Director Ms. Hite is overseeing the staffing. Mayor Earling indicated that her
time with oversight and this new proposal would be about five percent.
Finance Committee recommended this to full Council with their approval.
Item #2 — General Fund Update
Finance Director Shawn Hunstock provided an unaudited General Fund update of the FYE for 12/11 and
most items came on target as projected. General Fund Revenues are up $409K with expenses being
lower by about $1.1 million, when compared to budget. General Fund revenue exceeds expenditures
in 2011 by $748,519. The majority of revenue increases can be attributed to EMS property taxes coming
in over budget as did licenses and fees and sales taxes. Expenses came in lower as a result of the
change relating to staffing which included benefits.
Finance Chair Buckshnis asked about any reserves for all the potential litigation and Finance Director
Hunstock indicated there were no set - asides. Mr. Hunstock indicated that potential litigation would be
part of the reserve policies.
Finance Chair Buckshnis asked when we would see the unaudited financials which included all funds and
Mr. Hunstock indicated probably by next month.
Item #3 — Discussion regarding Budget by Priorities
Finance Chair Buckshnis and Finance Director Hunstock stated they had just returned from the Puget
Sound Finance Officers' Association Meeting where Redmond's Finance Director Mike Bailey provided
his presentation. Mr. Hunstock went over some examples of how this process would be administered
and both Mr. Yamamoto and Ms. Buckshnis agreed that this process would be a tremendous endeavor
but that having a strategic planning process would be very helpful to get the process started.
Ms. Buckshnis indicated that perhaps in addition to Redmond, that the City invite the Finance Director
from Renton to discuss how they perform their budget by priorities process.
Finance Committee Minutes
February 13, 2012
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Item #4 — Discussion regarding updates to various policies
Ms Buckshnis provided Mr. Hunstock with the Finance Committee Mission Statement she liked the best
and provided with some red -line commentary. Mr. Hunstock indicated that he would have the mission
crafted by next month.
Mr. Hunstock asked for the priority of policies and Ms. Buckshnis indicated that the reserve policy was
the most important and that we needed to get all reserves into one bucket and then decide if we need
to restrict a portion for catastrophic events. Also with the implementation of FASB 54, the City can't set
aside certain reserves unless specifically required by law.
Mr. Yamamoto indicated he would like the City to look at all funds and make sure they are all necessary.
Mr. Hunstock agreed and that for example there are some special revenue funds that could be
combined. He also said it might be more transparent if the City were to break things out into specific
funds like Utility Fund, Water Fund and Stromwater Fund and the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Item #5 — Discussion regarding financial statements
Mr. Hunstock indicated that he was working on the monthly and might craft them either after Redmond,
Kirkland and /or Tukwila. Mr. Hunstock indicated that the quarterly would be much like the current
Edmonds practice but would include all funds. Ms. Buckshnis asked if all would be on the web and Mr.
Hunstock indicated yes as well as the investment portfolio (periodically).
Public Comment:
Ron Walmbolt commented on item #1 and that the public will be interested in seeing this analysis. He
also commented that the budget by priorities or zero budgeting would be a tremendous endeavor for
the city to undertake. Lastly, he questioned whether some funds could be combined since one fund
received grants and the other did not. Mr. Hunstock indicated they could be co- mingled.
Darrol Haug complemented the idea of cleaning up the funds and making everything visible and
transparent. He also said that the strategic plan would be very complimentary towards moving to the
budget by priorities process. He indicated that the strategic plan should tie everything together and that
the interim process would be very helpful for biennium budgeting.
Meeting adjourned 3:42 p.m.
Finance Committee Minutes
February 13, 2012
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