Hood River City councilors pass supplemental budget resolution

“Our mission is to promote the creation of family-wage jobs; the diversification of the economic base; and the growth, development, and retention of businesses and industry within the five-county district,” she said.

MCEDD directly supports the City of Hood River in several ways, including working closely on legislative outreach and education, grant writing and administration, its Energy Council and implementing important economic development projects.

The economic district also has a business lending program — “We fund where banks cannot fund,” Metta said — that has partnered with Hood River Urban Renewal on middle housing.

Blackburn next called to order a public hearing for Resolution 2025-11 to adopt a supplemental budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Procedurally, the supplemental budget requires a resolution “in instances when the supplemental budget creates new line items for expenditures — that requires the public notice,” Longinetti said.

“In addition, changes in revenues, expenses and operating conditions regularly require appropriation adjustments during the fiscal year,” he said. “So this resolution and this supplemental budget addresses both the beginning fund balances as well as such identified changes in revenues, expenses or operating conditions through April 30, 2025.”

He went through the city’s nine funds for 2024-2025; all were consistent with or greater than the original fund balance. The most confusing of all adjustments, he said, were those related to the subscription-based technology agreement in the internal services fund (now listed as $1,598,630). In short, a change in accounting standards by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) requires certain subscriptions and leases to now be recognized as debt service; previously, they were recognized as expenses. All such agreements have now been consolidated within the administrative fund.

He said a “fairly significant” beginning fund balance adjustment was also made to the city’s sewer fund ($1,430,436), a reflection of 2023-2024 external audit findings.

“There are two reasons for this adjustment. The first part was that certain project expenditures that were budgeted to be spent for the last fiscal year and were delayed and not spent during that time,” he said. “Additionally, $450,000 in fines, which were anticipated to be received during the current fiscal year, were actually received at the very end of the last fiscal year.”

The internal services fund also saw an upward adjustment to the opening fund balance to reflect the 2023-2024 external audit ($1,598,630). Vehicle purchases and internal fund loans budgeted in the equipment replacement fund were both below budget, contributing to much of the beginning fund balance variance, Longinetti said.

The board unanimously passed the resolution.

The entire supplemental budget document can be found in the May 7 meeting packet; go to cityofhoodriver.gov.