Board of Aldermen 09-22-2020 Page 43
might happen next year. But the repairs had to be made from — there’s a reserve account on this as well.
Repairs had to be made, which they were, but that caused, because of the necessity to make the repairs,
that caused the total amount spent between operations and repairs to be higher than had been projected
by $57,000.00. So there itis. Keep in mined that the dams are generating for the City somewhere in the
vicinity of $1.2 million in revenue every year. So really we are only directing conceptually a small part of
the revenue of the dams into this.
Alderwoman Lu
Just a follow-up please. So] think Mayor Donchess the answers we make capital improvements out of the
operating fund ...
Mayor Donchess
Correct.
Alderwoman Lu
... the operating budget in the past so we are just replenishing that.
Mayor Donchess
Correct.
Alderwoman Lu
Ok, thank you. It didn’t make sense to me to have the operating expenses but | appreciate your patience
with me. | want to just recommend that we consider not putting money into the barriers until we decide
whether we want to do that.
Mayor Donchess
On the barriers, committing the money now does not commit you to buying the barriers. But what it does is
it makes it possible that if you want to do that, you can. If the money isn’t reserved now, you exclude that
possibility. And if the decision were made, now obviously for reasons that we can discuss and it’s pretty
late now but! won’t get into my whole thing about wnat that has done for the City. But ifwe didn’t go
ahead, then the money would go into surplus next year. But if we don’t reserve the money in the escrows
now that excludes, then there’s no funds budgeted to do next year and we would be saying we can’t do the
barriers next year because we don’t have any money for it.
Alderwoman Lu
OK | think that was one of my first questions, anything that we don’t move, then it goes into ...
Mayor Donchess
Will come back next year, at the end of the year, we still have it, you know.
Alderwoman Lu
We still have access to it correct?
Mayor Donchess
Correct.
