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File #: [25-0401]    Version: 1 Name:
Type: Consent Status: Agenda Ready
File created: 8/23/2025 In control: Town Council
On agenda: 9/10/2025 Final action:
Title: Enact the Annual Budget Ordinance Amendment to Re-Appropriate Funds for Prior Year Encumbrances and Other Commitments
Attachments: 1. Budget Carryforward Summary Listing of Items Carried Over
Related files: [25-0318]
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AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ITEM TITLE*

title

Enact the Annual Budget Ordinance Amendment to Re-Appropriate Funds for Prior Year Encumbrances and Other Commitments

presenter

RESPONSIBLE STAFF, TITLE, DEPARTMENT*

Amy Oland, Director, Business Management Department

STAFF RECOMMENDATION*

That the Council enact the budget ordinance amendment to adjust for encumbrances and other commitments from FY 2025 to FY 2026.

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ACTION/DECISION POINTS*

To have the budgetary authority to spend this money, Council needs to enact the budget ordinance amendment.

LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT*

Each year, as the new fiscal year budget gets underway, we ask the Council to re-appropriate funds for activities that cross over July 1st.  These activities were anticipated and planned for in our budget preparation and are for routine activities and longer-term projects.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT*

Encumbrances

  • Encumbrances are obligations the Town committed to before June 30, 2025, through a contract or a purchase order. Since the materials or services weren’t delivered before June 30th, we need to re-appropriate those funds in the 2025-2026 budget. Staff recommends carrying forward a total of $7,166,765 across all funds from last year to the 2025-2026 budget. 

Other Commitments

  • In addition to outstanding contracts and purchase orders, there are items that were planned for in our budget preparation but not completed before June 30, 2025. These projects include: street resurfacing $818,515, fire capital $138,318 reimagining community safety $43,420, affordable housing projects $1,777,412, climate action plan $513,383, Transit ARPA funding held in reserve until projects are identified $4,605,835, North South bus rail transit project $9,268,804, bus system improvements $878,857, stormwater system improvement projects $1,843,575 and stormwater bond projects $3,208,618.  Other carryforward items include workforce development training, Council-approved planning initiatives, police federal and state drug seizure funds, facility and vehicle maintenance, technology projects, and other ongoing initiatives that were not encumbered.   Staff recommends carrying forward a total of $25,610,316 across all funds from last year to the 2025-2026 budget.

 

 

Grant Fund Carryovers

  • The attached ordinance would re-appropriate $559,064 for unspent grants in the Grant Fund as follows:

CIP Project Carryovers

  • Other than the amounts included for encumbrances above, the balance remaining for capital projects that are underway of $4,076,192 requires re-appropriation in FY 2026.  The attached amendment would re-appropriate funding for the completion of the RAISE grant project, Fire Station 4 design, bike/ped improvements, greenways, parks and playgrounds, and facility capital maintenance.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

The carryover budget amendment is intended to re-appropriate budget that was committed to in the prior fiscal year.  Encumbered funds that were not spent were held in the fund balance of the various funds, or in additional grant funds awarded by agencies.  The amount being carried over is $7,176,767 in encumbrances and $25,610,316 for other items that were not completed in the prior year for a total of $32,777,081.

ATTACHMENTS

Budget Carryforward – Budget Ordinance Amendment

Budget Carryforward – Summary Listing of Items Carried Forward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “THE ORDINANCE CONCERNING APPROPRIATIONS AND THE RAISING OF REVENUE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2025” (2025-09-10/O-1)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Budget Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Concerning Appropriations and the Raising of Revenue for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2025” as duly adopted on June 18, 2025, be and the same is hereby amended as follows:

 

end

 

This the 10th day of September, 2025.