09.10.26 Strategy and Accountability (S&A) Committee Update

By Strategy & Accountability Chair Ryan Reyna (District A)

Prior meeting:

• Welcomed Dr. Rief to the committee

• Chair / Vice chair remain Ryan Reyna and Kelly Carmichael Booz

• Received a redistricting and transportation update from staff - a blog post has been published

• S&A Areas of Focus: budget calendar and other ideas

Next meeting:

• Sept 14 at 3pm on zoom

• Three considerations: budget calendar, planning factors, BAC recommendations

City Council update on appropriating ACPS funds by category:

• Resolution 3368, adopted in March, directed the city to appropriate ACPS funds by the nine categories permitted under Virginia State Code

• ACPS was already building its budget on those nine categories, so the shift is largely about what gets submitted to the city and when

• BFAC and Budget Advisory Council analysis of ACPS categories and past transfers was credited as the basis for the recommendations

• Transfers between classifications require city approval under state law; movement within a classification does not

• Two transfer types:

  • Emergency (e.g., a roof failure): staff-to-staff submission with justification, reviewed and approved within roughly 24 hours, then ratified in a periodic supplemental ordinance

  • Routine between-classification transfers: handled like city transfers today, through administrative review, documented and highlighted

• Recommended $500K threshold for delegated authority to the City Manager; transfers above it come to Council as a docket item. Requires a future Council resolution

• Transfers below $500K would still be visible in monthly reports but would not need Council action

• Operating-to-capital transfers are not allowed under this process; any CIP appropriation change goes through the CIP process separately

• ACPS already reports actuals vs. budget by object; staff propose adding a table by classification (ACPS calls these "functions") 

• Still open questions about how this will actually work in reality through the budget process

  • No specific calendar changes, but City is requesting ACPS budget information in Dec rather than Jan, which could present some new challenges and will need to figure out how that squares with our traditional process of the Superintendent’s proposed budget

  • Add/delete is "already a complicated process"; asked for a specific written draft of how it works across eight classifications and the Council spreadsheet, delivered by the Nov 10 guidance vote or the first ACPS work session