Lodi City Council Budgetary Surplus Allocation
Lodi City Council Budgetary Surplus Allocation
The Lodi City Council approved the resolution to allocate the surplus funds from fiscal year ’22 last night. The total surplus was $7.1M, and the council considered different options on how to allocate it. The options originally considered were recommendations from city staff and weighed the needs of catching up on deferred maintenance, putting funds into the pension stabilization fund, and investing in economic development and downtown revitalization.
The Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to city council members and city staff encouraging them to adopt the different strategic plans recommended by staff. These included an Economic Development Strategic Plan, a Downtown Specific Plan, and a Parks Master Plan. JP Doucette, the CEO, spoke at the city council meeting and laid out a path of partnership and cooperation to get this important work done.
“There is a saying in the chamber world, ‘Economic Development is a team sport’. We at the chamber want to be your teammate in the effort of creating a roadmap to securing Lodi’s economic future. We want to see Lodi be a wonderful place to live, work, and to start & grow a business.”
Several council members suggested that the Chamber of Commerce should play a role in the creation of the Economic Development Strategic Plan and discussions will take place between the Chamber, City Council, and city staff about how we will partner together in this process. The Chamber is currently in discussions with other chamber executives and economic development managers across the Western US to find models of cities and chambers working in concert to help their communities thrive.
Here are the original three options that were presented to city council, followed by a line-item breakdown of the resolution that was adopted at last night’s council meeting.
Option 1: Take all $7.1M and put it towards the pension stabilization fund. Currently, the pension liability is 77% funded (leaving $104M in unfunded accrued liabilities), but recent poor market returns from CalPERS will decrease this percentage when these numbers are officially added to the calculation. You can see the presentation on the pension liability on the city website HERE. (Click on the Shirtsleeve Session Agenda from July 18th).
Option 2: Invest a portion of the funds ($1.5M was recommended) in the pension stabilization fund and use the remaining $5.6M for other projects.
Option 3: Use all $7.1M for one-time projects or deferred maintenance.
The council started their discussion and negotiation based on a variation of Option 2. They trimmed the original recommendation of putting $1.5M towards the pension down to $1M to give them $6.1M to allocate. Here was a list of the projects recommended by city staff to complete with the remaining $6.1M.
Staff Recommendations Presented at Meeting
| Project | Funded Amount | Council Imperative/Milestone | Change from June 27th |
| Extraordinary Litigation Costs | $ 250,000 | 3. All | $ - |
| Hutchins St Square Roof Phase II | $ 2,500,000 | 5.C/6.C | $ - |
| Lodi Lake North Restroom Fire Repair | $ 283,000 | 5.C/6.B | $ - |
| Economic Development Strategic Plan | $ 100,000 | 2.A | $ - |
| Kofu Skate Park Repair / 1 Year Bathroom | $ 95,000 | 5.C/6.C | $ - |
| Downtown Specific Plan | $ 750,000 | 1 | $ - |
| PRCS Master Plan | $ 150,000 | 6 | $ - |
| Salas Park – Sports Lighting Phase II * | $ 500,000 | 6.C | $ 500,000 |
| Downtown Business Alliance Aesthetic Improvements | $ 100,000 | 1.F/8.B | $ 100,000 |
| White Slough Training Facility | $ 1,152,439 | 7.B/2.D | $ (42,813) |
| Total Allocation |
$ 6,130,439 |
$ 537,187 |
*Total project is $1,000,000. Staff is unable to deliver the full project in the short term due to workload. Staff recommends committing the first $500,000 in estimated savings from the Animal Shelter bonds to this project.
Here is a breakdown of the final resolution and where the funds will be allocated.
FINAL RESOLUTION ADOPTED
The final resolution decreased the funding to the pension stabilization fund from $1M to $500K. This allowed the final amount to be allocated to be $6,630,439. Also included in the motion was to use any savings between the funded amount and actual project cost to purchase security cameras at the request of councilman Ypez.
| Project | Funded Amount | Council Imperative/Milestone | Change from Proposed |
| Extraordinary Litigation Costs | $ 250,000 | 3. All | $ - |
| Hutchins St Square Roof Phase II | $ 2,500,000 | 5.C/6.C | $ - |
| Lodi Lake North Restroom Fire Repair | $ 283,000 | 5.C/6.B | $ - |
| Economic Development Strategic Plan | $ 100,000 | 2.A | $ - |
| Kofu Skate Park Repair / 1 Year Bathroom | $ - | 5.C/6.C | $ (95,000) |
| Downtown Specific Plan | $ 750,000 | 1 | $ - |
| PRCS Master Plan | $ - | 6 | $ ($150,000) |
| Salas Park – Sports Lighting Phase II | $ 500,000 | 6.C | $ 500,000 |
| Downtown Business Alliance Aesthetic Improvements | $ 100,000 | 1.F/8.B | $ 100,000 |
| White Slough Training Facility | $ 1,152,439 | 7.B/2.D | $ (42,813) |
| Parks General Fund Deposit*(Skate Park) | $ 745,000 | $ 745,000 | |
| Total Allocation |
$ 6,630,439 |
$ 1,057,187 |
*The deposit in the parks general fund will be earmarked for the design of a new skate park of $175K, with the balance being held to build the new park upon approval of design and if new funds become available.
You can watch the meeting on Facebook to see the comments by the public and council members by clicking the link HERE. The budgetary surplus discussion begins around 1:09:00 into the video.
