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Public money · Park Ridge

General Fund balance and the reserve policy in Park Ridge budgets

AI-assisted researchHow this was researched and checked

Budgets adopted from April 16, 2018 to December 15, 2025 repeatedly planned General Fund deficits to bring down a balance above the Council's three-month reserve target, but audited results beat every budget compared: after falling at first, the balance rose to $36,552,752 by the latest audited year, over nine months of expenditures. The latest budget projects $32,096,030, 262.3% of its required minimum, though its forecast falls below it in the last two years. A proposed three-to-six-month range was deferred on January 25, 2021; no policy revision after December 19, 2011 is shown adopted.

Why this connection matters

The Council's policy sets a target reserve for the General Fund. The budgets show how far the balance stood above that target, how staff planned to draw it down, and how audited results compared with those plans.

Research as of · 14 independent sources of evidence.

What changed, and when did it take effect?

  1. Source record · Dec 19, 2011

    The policy target

    The Council's fund balance policy, approved on August 15, 2005 and, as its text states, last revised on December 19, 2011, says that for the General Fund the Target Fund Balance shall equal three months of budgeted operating expenditures. That sentence is reprinted unchanged in the financial policies of each budget presented from the hearing on December 19, 2022 through the hearing on December 15, 2025; each reprint lists emergency amounts for the Water and Sewer Funds but not the Parking Fund amount in the policy text. The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2024 describes the policy as a minimum level of unassigned fund balance measured against current-year expenditures.

    • p. 19 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 8 · Staff memo of Fund Balance Policy, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 8 · Staff memo of Fund Balance Policy, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 20 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 20 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 21 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 16 sources

  2. Source record · Mar 5, 2018

    The earliest budget planned a drawdown

    Presenting the proposed budget on March 5, 2018, the City Manager's budget message proposed a General Fund deficit of $3,547,928, said several funds had balances in excess of policy requirements, and said the General Fund surplus would be reduced over the next few years while still meeting or exceeding the target. The scorecard dated April 16, 2018 showed the latest audited General Fund balance at $18,542,464, a budgeted deficit of $3,643,663 after revisions, and a projected year-end balance of $15,084,548 against a target of $7,971,525, or 189.2% of the target. The Council adopted the budget, as amended, on April 16, 2018 by a vote of 7–0.

    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2018-04-16, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 5 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2018-04-16, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Staff memo of FY19 Budget Message, City Council, Mar 5 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2018-04-16, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 13 sources

  3. Source record · Apr 20, 2020

    The next two scorecards

    The scorecard dated April 3, 2019 showed the latest audited General Fund balance at $20,984,798, a budgeted deficit of $4,755,335, and a projected year-end balance of $12,835,396 against a target of $8,383,264; it notes that the General Fund figures are unassigned fund balance. The revised scorecard dated April 20, 2020 showed the next audited balance at $20,049,177, lower than a year earlier but above the $15,084,548 projected for that year at adoption, a forecast of $16,786,597 for the current year and a projected $14,915,912 at the end of the budget year, against a target of $8,514,526; the budget book showed the proposed balance $5,780,386 over the target. The Council adopted those budgets on April 3, 2019 and, as amended, on April 20, 2020.

    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2020-04-20, City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a Budget Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2020 Budget beginning May 1, 2019 and ending April 30, 2020, City Council, Apr 3 2019. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2020-04-20, City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 18 sources

  4. Source record · Nov 23, 2020

    The balance came down at first

    At the levy vote on December 2, 2019, the City Manager said the fund balance had been reduced dramatically and was converging on the three-month level, and the Finance Director projected that the target would be reached within a few years. The audited report for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2019 shows a General Fund deficit of $2,084,686, largely from the planned use of fund balance for capital improvements. On November 23, 2020 the Finance Director told the Committee of the Whole that lowering the General Fund share of the levy had worked, and that by the end of the fiscal year that began May 1, 2019 the balance had fallen from eight to six months of expenditures.

    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-11-23, Committee of the Whole, Nov 23 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-11-23, Committee of the Whole, Nov 23 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2019-12-02, City Council, Dec 2 2019. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-11-23, Committee of the Whole, Nov 23 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 20 · Staff memo of Audit Presentation, City Council, Oct 19 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2019-12-02, City Council, Dec 2 2019. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 6 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2019-04-03, City Council, Apr 3 2019. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 10 sources

  5. Source record · Jan 25, 2021

    A wider target range was deferred, and a later review is not shown

    Staff brought a revised policy to the Committee of the Whole on December 14, 2020, and the staff memo for the meeting of January 25, 2021 recommended changing the General Fund target to a range of three to six months of budgeted expenditures, excluding one-time expenditures; that meeting voted 4–3 to defer the item to a committee meeting in May. On November 20, 2023 the Mayor asked whether there was consensus to review whether the policy's targets should be adjusted. Staff lists of upcoming committee topics dated December 2023 and December 2024 showed a discussion of its parameters for 2024 and then 2025; the list dated January 2025 no longer shows it, and the records reviewed show no later action on the policy.

    • p. 1 · Staff memo of Approve Revised Council Policy Statement 40 - Fund Balance and Target Fund Balance, Committee of the Whole, Jan 25 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Staff memo of Fund Balance Policy, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Review of Upcoming Procedures and Regulations Items (Memorandum), Committee of the Whole, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-12-14, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Review of Upcoming Procedures and Regulations Items (Memorandum), Committee of the Whole, Jan 6 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2023-11-20, Committee of the Whole, Nov 20 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2023-11-20, Committee of the Whole, Nov 20 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-12-14, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 16 sources

  6. Source record · Nov 10, 2021

    The stub year and the first calendar-year budget

    At the stub-year workshop on February 10, 2021, the City Manager described a shift from excess fund balances toward the targets, and the Finance Director said balances were being drawn down across the board; the Council adopted that budget on April 19, 2021. The stub year's audited report shows General Fund revenues budgeted at $21,036,075 against budgeted spending of $23,482,757, but a surplus of $1,760,715. At the workshop on November 10, 2021 for the year beginning January 1, 2022, the Finance Director proposed General Fund revenues of $35,270,000 against expenditures of $37,300,000 after transfers, a deficit budgeted on purpose to bring the balance nearer the three-month floor; the Council adopted that budget on December 6, 2021.

    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 18 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - February 10, 2021, City Council, Mar 1 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - November 10, 2021, City Council, Dec 6 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - February 10, 2021, City Council, Mar 1 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 22 · Staff memo of Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 18 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 18 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2021-12-06, City Council, Dec 6 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - February 10, 2021, City Council, Mar 1 2021. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 14 sources

  7. Source record · Dec 19, 2022

    The balance rose despite planned deficits

    The audited report for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2020 cites pandemic relief revenues above budget and spending other than capital outlay $2,468,066 under budget. The budget presented on December 19, 2022 printed audited balances of $20,628,080 for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2020 and $22,388,794 for the stub year, and projected $29,701,971 for the year that began January 1, 2022. Its message said the balance kept rising despite efforts to reduce it, on record state income, personal property replacement and sales tax receipts; its fund balance analysis cited conservative revenue projections and slower project completion. It proposed a General Fund deficit of $2,900,000, called intentional, and projected $26,793,741 at year end.

    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 28 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Oct 18 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2020-04-20, City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 29 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 28 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Oct 18 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 13 sources

  8. Source record · Dec 16, 2024

    The next two budgets

    The budget presented on December 4, 2023 printed an audited balance of $32,070,418 for the year that began January 1, 2022; its message said the balance had again increased in the current year as receipts from the State, sales tax and other third-party services exceeded expectations, and it planned a General Fund deficit of $1,700,000 with a projected year-end balance of $34,094,321. The budget presented on December 16, 2024 printed an audited balance of $36,304,166 for the year that began January 1, 2023, projected the balance to fall from $34,572,275 to $33,269,238 over the year that began January 1, 2025, and said the balance significantly exceeds the minimum policy and that reducing it had taken longer than anticipated.

    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2024-12-16, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2024-12-16, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 31 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 1 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 18 sources

  9. Calculation

    Audited results compared with the budgets

    Every audited year compared beat its budget. The fiscal year that began May 1, 2018 ended at $20,049,177, above the $15,084,548 projected; the next had a $2,084,686 deficit against $4,755,335 budgeted; the year that began May 1, 2020 ended at $20,628,080, against $14,915,912 projected. The stub year and the year that began January 1, 2022, both budgeted with deficits, ended with surpluses of $1,760,715 and $9,681,620. The year that began January 1, 2023 had a surplus of $4,233,751, ending at $36,304,166, $9,510,425 above the $26,793,741 projected, and the next ended at $35,200,107, above the $34,094,321 projected, after a smaller fall than the $2,005,837 budgeted. The year that began January 1, 2025 rose by $1,352,645 to $36,552,752, $3,283,514 above the $33,269,238 projected. Its original budget called for a fall of $1,423,037.

    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 18 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - November 10, 2021, City Council, Dec 6 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 22 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report), City Council, Aug 7 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 28 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Oct 18 2021. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo), City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2020-04-20, City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 34 sources

  10. Calculation

    Where the balance stood against the floor

    The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2024 says the balance equaled over nine months of that year's expenditures, against a policy floor of three months, and the report for the following year says it exceeded nine months. Between the audited balances printed for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2020 and the year that began January 1, 2023, the balance rose by $15,676,086. In the budget presented on December 15, 2025, the projected year-end balance of $32,096,030 is 65.6% of budgeted General Fund expenditures of $48,952,232; the forecast's required minimum of $12,238,058 is 25% of those expenditures, so the projected balance is 262.3% of the minimum.

    • p. 32 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 33 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 8 · Staff memo of Fund Balance Policy, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2020-04-20, City Council, Apr 20 2020. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2022-12-19, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report), City Council, Aug 4 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 12 sources

  11. Source record · Dec 15, 2025

    The latest budget and its forecast

    The budget presented on December 15, 2025 said the balance fell less than budgeted in the year that began January 1, 2024, projected a further decline of $611,281 in the current year, and planned a $2,500,000 use of fund balance. Its forecast shows the balance at $13,225,993 in the next-to-last year, below a required minimum of $13,691,430, and $4,453,608 in the last year, $9,809,362 below the minimum of $14,262,970; a year earlier the forecast ended at $14,744,355 against a minimum of $13,813,239. The budget says projected deficits will be addressed before each year begins and that actual results have usually been better than budgeted.

    • p. 33 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2025-12-15, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 31 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 45 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 45 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 45 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 44 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 14 sources

  12. Open question

    What the figures do not settle

    The early scorecards measure unassigned fund balance, while the later budget tables match the audited totals; the latest audited report puts the unassigned balance at $34,455,200 against a total of $36,552,752. Documents also restate some figures slightly: the audited balance for the year that began January 1, 2022 appears as $32,070,418 and as $32,070,415, and the year that began January 1, 2024 appears as $35,200,298 in the budget and $35,200,107 in the audited report. Budgeted decreases in the audited reports also differ from the budget books: $2,005,837 against the $1,700,000 planned for the year that began January 1, 2024, and $1,423,037 against a projected fall from $34,572,275 to $33,269,238 the next year.

    • p. 33 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2023-12-04, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 31 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report), City Council, Aug 4 2025. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report), City Council, Aug 4 2025. Open the quote and source.
    Show all 13 sources

What was requested, recommended, approved, contracted, reported paid and completed?

Furthest stage the records establish: Approved.

Rise in the audited General Fund balance printed in the budgets
$15,676,086
The audited balance printed for the year that began January 1, 2023 minus the one printed for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2020.
Calculation
Projected balance as a share of budgeted expenditures
65.6%
The projected year-end General Fund balance in the budget adopted on December 15, 2025 divided by that budget's General Fund expenditures.
Calculation
Required minimum as a share of budgeted expenditures
25%
The long-term forecast's required minimum for the budget year adopted on December 15, 2025 divided by that year's budgeted General Fund expenditures.
Calculation
Projected balance as a share of the required minimum
262.3%
The projected year-end General Fund balance in the budget adopted on December 15, 2025 divided by the forecast's required minimum for the same year.
Calculation
Forecast shortfall below the required minimum in the last forecast year
$9,809,362
The required minimum minus the forecast ending balance for the last year of the forecast in the budget adopted on December 15, 2025.
Calculation
Audited balance above the budget's projection, earlier year
$9,510,425
The audited balance for the year that began January 1, 2023, as printed in the budget adopted on December 16, 2024, minus the balance projected in the budget adopted on December 19, 2022.
Calculation
Projected balance as a share of the target in the earliest budget
189.2%
The projected year-end General Fund balance on the scorecard dated April 16, 2018 divided by the target fund balance on the same scorecard.
Calculation
Audited balance above the budget's projection, latest year
$3,283,514
The audited ending balance for the year that began January 1, 2025 minus the year-end balance projected in the budget adopted on December 16, 2024.
Calculation

Which parcels, agencies, businesses and projects are explicitly connected?

Read the original sources

  1. 1.Review of Upcoming Procedures and Regulations Items (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  2. 2.Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021

    City of Park Ridge

  3. 3.Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  4. 4.Fund Balance Policy

    City of Park Ridge

  5. 5.FY19 Budget Message

    City of Park Ridge

  6. 6.Review of Upcoming Procedures and Regulations Items (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  7. 7.Approve a Budget Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2020 Budget beginning May 1, 2019 and ending April 30, 2020

    City of Park Ridge

  8. 8.Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

    City of Park Ridge

  9. 9.Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report)

    City of Park Ridge

  10. 10.City Council minutes, 2021-12-06

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2021-12-21

  11. 11.Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  12. 12.City Council minutes, 2021-04-19

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2021-05-04

  13. 13.City Council minutes, 2019-04-03

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2019-04-17

  14. 14.City Council minutes, 2020-04-20

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2020-05-05

  15. 15.Committee of the Whole minutes, 2023-11-20

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2023-12-20

  16. 16.City Council minutes, 2023-12-04

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2024-01-04

  17. 17.Budget Workshop - February 10, 2021

    City of Park Ridge

  18. 18.Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019

    City of Park Ridge

  19. 19.City Council minutes, 2019-12-02

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2020-06-01

  20. 20.Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

    City of Park Ridge

  21. 21.Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2021 Budget beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021 (Budget Ordinance Memo)

    City of Park Ridge

  22. 22.Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-12-14

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2021-01-20

  23. 23.Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  24. 24.Audit Presentation

    City of Park Ridge

  25. 25.Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-11-23

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2020-12-22

  26. 26.Review of Upcoming Procedures and Regulations Items (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  27. 27.Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Memorandum)

    City of Park Ridge

  28. 28.Approve Revised Council Policy Statement 40 - Fund Balance and Target Fund Balance

    City of Park Ridge

  29. 29.City Council minutes, 2022-12-19

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2023-01-10

  30. 30.City Council minutes, 2025-12-15

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2026-01-06

  31. 31.Budget Workshop - November 10, 2021

    City of Park Ridge

  32. 32.City Council minutes, 2018-04-16

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2018-05-08

  33. 33.Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

    City of Park Ridge

  34. 34.Committee of the Whole minutes, 2021-01-25

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2021-02-17

  35. 35.City Council minutes, 2024-12-16

    City of Park Ridge · dated 2025-01-29

  36. 36.Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget

    City of Park Ridge

  37. 37.Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report)

    City of Park Ridge

What remains unresolved?

What the evidence does not establish

  • Whether the Council ever adopted the proposed three-to-six-month range; the records reviewed show the deferral on January 25, 2021 and no later action.
  • Whether the review of the policy listed for 2024 and then 2025 took place, and why it no longer appears on the list dated January 2025.
  • Whether the forecast's required minimum, which equals 25% of budgeted General Fund expenditures, is measured on the policy's basis of budgeted operating expenditures.
  • The audited total General Fund balances for the years before the one that began May 1, 2019; for those years the finding relies on the scorecards, which report the unassigned balance.
  • How much of each year's better-than-budgeted result came from one-time revenue rather than recurring revenue or spending below budget.
  • Which amendments account for the differences between the deficits planned in the budget books and the budgeted deficits cited later.
  • Whether the planned $2,500,000 draw in the budget adopted on December 15, 2025 will occur; the latest audited year in these records is the year that began January 1, 2025.

  • The General Fund budget-to-actual schedules in the audited reports

    They would show, line by line, how much of each year's better-than-budgeted result came from revenue, operating spending or lower transfers.

  • The current text of the Council's fund balance policy statement

    It would confirm whether the three-month target is still the policy in force and whether any revision was adopted.

  • Committee of the Whole minutes for the listed review of financial reserves

    They would show whether the review of targets took place and what, if anything, was decided.

  • Budget amendment ordinances for the years with differing deficit figures

    They would reconcile the deficits planned in the budget books with the budgeted deficits cited later.

  • The audited annual report for the year that began January 1, 2026

    It would show whether the planned draw on the General Fund occurred.

  • The next budget and its long-term forecast

    It would show whether projected balances keep falling toward the required minimum.

What does the evidence suggest, and what would change it?

Budgets adopted from April 16, 2018 to December 15, 2025 repeatedly planned General Fund deficits to bring down a balance above the three-month target. The balance fell at first, but every audited year compared here ended better than budgeted, and it rose to $36,552,752 by the latest audited year, over nine months of expenditures; the latest budget projects 262.3% of the required minimum.

Searched City Council and Committee of the Whole records from Mar 5 2018 to Aug 3 2026 (approved minutes, draft minutes, staff reports).

Confidence
Medium confidence
Amounts are quoted from staff budget documents, audited reports and approved minutes that agree on the direction of change; but they mix unassigned and total balances, restate some figures, show proposed rather than final budgets, and the policy's status rests on the absence of an adoption record.

What supports it

  • The policy text sets the General Fund target at three months of budgeted operating expenditures.
    • p. 8 · Staff memo of Fund Balance Policy, Committee of the Whole, Dec 14 2020. Open the quote and source.
  • The latest budget reprints the same three-month wording.
    • p. 21 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
  • The earliest budget message planned to reduce the General Fund surplus while staying at or above the target.
    • p. 3 · Staff memo of FY19 Budget Message, City Council, Mar 5 2018. Open the quote and source.
  • The earliest scorecard projected a year-end balance of $15,084,548 against a target of $7,971,525.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a budget ordinance for Fiscal Year 2019 Budget beginning May 1, 2018 and ending April 30, 2019, City Council, Apr 16 2018. Open the quote and source.
  • At the workshop on November 10, 2021, the Finance Director described the budgeted deficit as meant to bring the balance nearer the reserve floor.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Budget Workshop - November 10, 2021, City Council, Dec 6 2021. Open the quote and source.
  • The budget message presented on December 19, 2022 says the balance continued to increase despite efforts to reduce it.
    • p. 15 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, City Council, Dec 19 2022. Open the quote and source.
  • The next budget message says the balance again increased in the current year.
    • p. 16 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
  • The audited report records a surplus of $4,233,751 in a year whose proposed budget planned a deficit of $2,900,000.
    • p. 22 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 15 2024. Open the quote and source.
  • The latest audited report records an increase of $1,352,645 in a year whose original budget called for a decrease of $1,423,037.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
  • The latest audited report says the balance exceeded nine months of expenditures, against a three-month policy minimum.
    • p. 30 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
  • The Committee of the Whole voted 4–3 to defer the proposed three-to-six-month range.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2021-01-25, Committee of the Whole, Jan 25 2021. Open the quote and source.
  • The latest forecast shows the balance at $4,453,608 in its last year, below the required minimum of $14,262,970.
    • p. 45 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
  • For the fiscal year that began May 1, 2020, the audited report cites relief revenues above budget, and the budget presented on December 19, 2022 printed its audited balance as $20,628,080, above the $14,915,912 the scorecard had projected.
    • p. 28 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Oct 18 2021. Open the quote and source.
  • The audited report for the stub year records a surplus of $1,760,715 although General Fund revenues were budgeted at $21,036,075 against expenditures of $23,482,757.
    • p. 22 · Staff memo of Presentation of Stub Year 2021 Annual [name withheld] (Memorandum), City Council, Jul 18 2022. Open the quote and source.
  • The budget presented on December 16, 2024 says reducing the balance has been challenging and has taken longer than anticipated.
    • p. 15 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, City Council, Dec 16 2024. Open the quote and source.
  • The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2024 says the General Fund decrease was planned as part of a long-term strategy to draw down fund balances in excess of the fund balance policies.

What points the other way

  • The latest budget cautions that its forecasts use budgeted figures and that actual results have usually been more favorable, so the forecast decline may not occur.
    • p. 45 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Council, Dec 15 2025. Open the quote and source.
  • The early scorecards measure unassigned fund balance while later budget tables use the total, so comparisons across the whole period mix two measures.
    • p. 2 · Staff memo of Approve a Budget Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2020 Budget beginning May 1, 2019 and ending April 30, 2020, City Council, Apr 3 2019. Open the quote and source.
  • The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2024 cites an original budgeted decrease of $2,005,837, while the budget presented for that year planned $1,700,000.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Report), City Council, Aug 4 2025. Open the quote and source.
  • The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2025 cites an original budgeted decrease of $1,423,037, while the budget presented for that year projected a fall from $34,572,275 to $33,269,238.
    • p. 23 · Staff memo of Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Memorandum), City Council, Aug 3 2026. Open the quote and source.
  • Audited balances are restated slightly between documents, such as $32,070,418 and $32,070,415 for the same year, and $35,200,298 against $35,200,107.
    • p. 31 · Staff memo of Public Hearing for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, City Council, Dec 4 2023. Open the quote and source.
  • The balance did come down at first: the audited report for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2019 shows a deficit of $2,084,686, and the scorecards show the audited unassigned balance falling from $20,984,798 to $20,049,177 the year before.
    • p. 20 · Staff memo of Audit Presentation, City Council, Oct 19 2020. Open the quote and source.
  • On November 23, 2020 the Finance Director said the levy cuts had worked, bringing the balance from eight to six months of expenditures by the end of the fiscal year that began May 1, 2019, so the drawdown was working before the balance rose again.
    • p. 3 · Approved minutes of Committee of the Whole minutes, 2020-11-23, Committee of the Whole, Nov 23 2020. Open the quote and source.
  • At the levy vote on December 2, 2019, staff described the fund balance as converging on the three-month level and projected reaching the target within a few years, so for a time staff saw the drawdown as nearly complete.
    • p. 4 · Approved minutes of City Council minutes, 2019-12-02, City Council, Dec 2 2019. Open the quote and source.

Assumptions

  • The first column of each scorecard is the General Fund, as the column headings show, and its figures are unassigned fund balance, as the scorecard notes say.
  • The fund balance tables in the budget books report the total General Fund balance; for the years with audited reports in these records they match the audited totals apart from small differences.
  • The budget documents presented at each adoption show the proposed budget; amendments made at workshops, committee meetings or the adoption meeting, such as the $30,000 holiday-lights change and the $300,000 added to pensions, are not reflected, and their General Fund effect is taken to be small.
  • The earliest budgets ran on a May-to-April fiscal year, the stub year began on May 1, 2021, and later budgets cover calendar years.

Other explanations

  • The policy may have been revised in a record outside this collection: the budgets' reprints omit the Parking Fund amount in the text last revised on December 19, 2011, but they keep the three-month General Fund wording, which weighs against a change to that target. (still open)
  • Much of the rise may come from revenues that will not recur: for the year that began January 1, 2022 the audited report credits the $9,681,620 increase mainly to revenues, including $5,028,328 in one-time federal reimbursement for lost revenues, and says spending below budget mattered less. (still open)
  • The shortfall in the latest long-term forecast may not occur, since the budget says projected deficits will be addressed before each year begins and actual results have usually been better than budgeted. (still open)
  • The gap between the deficit planned in the budget presented on December 4, 2023 and the deficit cited for that year later may reflect amendments, such as the $300,000 moved to police and fire pensions at adoption; the records reviewed do not show the accounting. (still open)
  • The planned deficits were a response to a balance at or near the floor: every audited balance and budget-year projection printed in these records is above the target or required minimum for its year, even when staff described the balance as converging on it at the levy vote on December 2, 2019. (ruled out by the records)

What would change this

  • A Council action adopting a revised fund balance policy is found.
  • Adopted budget amendments show a year whose final budgeted General Fund decline was smaller than the audited decline, so that the result was worse than budgeted.
  • The audited report for the year that began January 1, 2026 shows the planned draw taking place and the forecast decline beginning.

Editions and corrections

Each published change is a new edition. Corrections say what changed and why.

  1. Edition 3(current)

    Edition 3: 20 revised.

  2. Edition 2

    Edition 2: 20 revised.

  3. Edition 1

    First edition.

Decision tracker: park ridge

Editorial responsibility: GroundSignal. Source review: . Independent research; not affiliated with a government agency.

Suggested citation: GroundSignal, “General Fund balance and the reserve policy in Park Ridge budgets,” sources reviewed 2026-09-27, source records listed on this page.

Initial permanent evidence page published September 10, 2026. Follow the dated evidence above for later additions and changes. A source-check date alone does not establish a government action or project outcome.