Martin: Longmont's contingency budget should have spending rules

Matthew Bennett, Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·2 min read

Apr. 16—The Longmont City Council recently approved allocating up to $10,000 from its council contingency fund to put toward this year's Juneteenth event.

While the City Council voted unanimously to authorize the spending, Councilmember Marcia Martin said that, moving forward, the council should have access to more information in its packet of materials about such large expenditures prior to meetings. Those meeting packets also are accessible to the public.

Councilmember Susie Hidalgo-Fahring made the motion requesting up to $10,000 for Longmont's Juneteenth event during the council's April 9 meeting. The proposed allocation was not listed as a formal discussion topic with supporting documents on the council's pre-published agenda. Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

"We've been tossing out smaller amounts from the council contingency fund but ... I feel like for an amount as big as $10,000, we ought to be able to see the budget," Martin said during the April 9 council meeting.

In response to Martin's request, Councilmember Shiquita Yarbrough, who helps organize the event, said "absolutely."

The council contingency fund was established in the city charter and is intended for "expenditures which could not be readily foreseen at the time the budget was adopted," according to the charter.

In 2024, $60,000 was budgeted toward the council contingency fund and $86,854 was carried over from 2023.

Once the $10,000 carryover for the Juneteenth event is completed, the council contingency fund will have a balance of $133,354.

The City Council dipped into the council contingency fund several times in 2023, including on Jan. 24 when it decided to spend $40,000 for public polling about the library, recreation and culture ballot initiatives, all of which failed in the November election.

In addition to allocating up to $10,000 toward the Juneteenth event, the City Council has used $3,000 for the Sister Cities Northern Arapaho exchange and $500 for a march for child care event from the council contingency fund so far in 2024. The Longmont Sister Cities Association has established sister cities relationships with the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wind River Reservation, Wyoming, as well as with Chino, Japan and Ciudad Guzman, Mexico.

In a separate interview, Martin made clear that she had no issue with providing up to $10,000 for the Juneteenth celebration. But if the council is going to use the council contingency fund on a more regular basis, Martin said she thought there should be some sort of threshold for when a budgetary quotation is required ahead of time.

"Rather than just being able to name an amount and everybody votes for it, I feel like we should ... have a budget and follow the budget and know what the money is going to be spent on," Martin said.