The Kenai City Council authorized a budget transfer in the general fund for the Public Works Department to account for unanticipated expenditures. As the fiscal year end approaches, several accounts had unanticipated impacts, they include the Streets Department, the Buildings Department, and the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Resolution 2021-43 is intended to clarify and resolve those budget discrepancies.
There was a COVID-related problem at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to City Manager, Paul Ostrander:
“COVID did impact us at the Wastewater Treatment Plant simply because we only have three employees that work there. One of the employees was in a high-risk category and was forced to work from home for an extended period of time, which works fine operationally, however, we have testing requirements at the plant seven days a week. Because we only had two people to cover during those seven days a week, we incurred overtime that we hadn’t originally budgeted.
A transfer of $6,000 from the Wastewater Machinery & Equipment account will resolve this concern.
In the Streets Department, two existing graders that provide for snow removal and gravel road grading, were not successfully replaced with intended leased units. The department recently received approval to purchase a new one. As the existing equipment remained in service last season, a payment to the Equipment Replacement Fund would typically be provided for. The resolution will transfer $22,810 from the Streets Rentals account over to the Equipment Replacement Fund to correct that.
In the Buildings Department, the budget difference is from the resignation of the Building Official and the resulting payout of all leave that individual earned to date. A transfer of $7,100 in available funds from the Buildings Professional Services Account to leave will resolve the budgetary issue.
Resolution 2021-43 was approved by unanimous consent.
