MADERA — The Fiscal Year 2021/22 annual operating budget adopted for the Planning Department included an appropriation and allocation of funds in the amount of $250,000 for purposes of Contracted Services, represented within the 1020-4100-6440 expenditure account. This appropriation authorized expenditures for Council approved professional planning service contracts, which were executed with specific consultant firms and/or contingent labor persons to assist City staff with: the processing of property development entitlements and other land use planning processes (e.g., Zoning Ordinance, General Plan, or Special Studies) and associated document preparation; coordination of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance processes as well as preparation and documentation of appropriate analyses and findings; attendance and presentations at Planning Commission and/or City Council meetings, neighborhood meetings, or other stakeholder organization meetings; geographic information system (GIS) services, updates and maintenance; and, other matters as may be directed from time to time by the City Manager, Development Director, and/or Planning Manager.
The terms of duration for these previously approved professional planning service contracts were not defined based upon a specified length of time but rather, based upon monetary compensation for performance of said on-call services not to exceed the appropriated amount. Following Council adoption of the Fiscal Year 2022/23 annual operating budget and receipt of invoices for compensation of the professional contract services performed, City staff discovered D-2 that previously allocated funding within the Planning Department’s operating budget from the 2021/22 Fiscal Year were inadvertently omitted and not carried over to the same line item/account within the Planning Department’s 2022/23 Fiscal Year operating budget. As no funds were available within this account, it was necessary for City staff to utilize Central Administrative Contingency funds (from the General Fund) to satisfy the City’s obligation to provide compensation for the contracted services performed, and for which the invoices were received.
Therefore, City staff request the Council to approve an amendment to the General Fund Fiscal Year 2022/2023 Budget in order to appropriate and allocate funds for purposes of a line-item increase to the Planning Department’s Contracted Services Account in an amount equal to the balances of the existing and previously approved professional service contracts and agreements in order to be able to continue to utilize such services over the remainder of the 2022/23 Fiscal Year. This amount must also include an allocation equal to those Central Administrative Contingency funds expended for purposes of reimbursement of the contingency fund. The total amount requested to be appropriated and allocated from the General Fund to the Planning 1020- 4100-6440 expenditure account to cover previously approved Contract Services over the balance of the current fiscal year and to reimburse the Central Administrative Contingency Fund is $237,563.23.