Ann Arbor DDA Adjusts Annual Budget

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At its June 6, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor Downtown Authority board authorized amendments to its previously approved fiscal year FY 2012 budget (ending in three weeks, on June 30), which is an annual exercise undertaken to ensure that the actual expenses incurred are allowed for in the budget.

An example of a major difference between the already authorized budget and the amended version is an adjustment upward from $1,017,847 – for capital construction costs from the TIF fund – to $3,480,701. Those costs are construction invoices related to the new South Fifth Avenue underground parking garage, which is expected to open in mid-July. The budget adjustments are conservative, in that it assumes the parking garage will be completed and invoices will be submitted by the end of June, although that’s not likely. [.pdf of FY 2012 budget revision]

Last year, the DDA received construction invoices after its final regular budget adjustment that resulted in an excess in expenditures over budgeted revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. The overage was identified in the regular audit that was done by Abraham & Gaffney, P.C.  as inconsistent with Michigan’s Uniform Budgeting and Accounting Act (UBAA) of 1968. DDA staff attributed the $337,478 overage to the submission of a bill forwarded to the DDA in June by its construction management consultant, Park Avenue Consultants Inc. The bill was for the underground parking garage and streetscape improvement projects that are currently under construction.

This year an additional effort was made to ensure that the final budget adjustment allowed for additional construction invoices that might be submitted between now and the end of the fiscal year.

South Fifth Avenue between Liberty and William is expected to reopen in mid-June, although it was most recently expected to open by the end of May.

This brief was filed from the DDA offices at 150 S. Fifth Ave., Suite 301, where the board holds its meetings. A detailed report of the meeting will follow: [link]