HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.d. Donation PolicyCITY OF ROSEMOUNT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ACTION
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING DATE: November 14, 2001
AGENDA ITEM:
Donation Policy
AGENDA SECTION:
PREPARED BY:
Jeff May, Finance Director
AGENDA r,
ATTACHMENTS:
Proposed Donation Policy, Memo from City
APPROVED BY:
Attorney
For your discussion this evening is the City's Donation Policy. This policy was originally put into
place in 1991. Staff would like to discuss amending this policy to reflect current, updated Minnesota
statutes at the advice or our City Attorney. At this point in time the City Attorney has not reviewed
this revised policy because of timing issues. If you are accepting of the revised policy it will be
forwarded on to the City Attorney for his review and brought back for your approval at the December
4th or December 18 Council meeting.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discussion only.
COUNCIL ACTION:
accepted by motion with a simple majority. If the Council were to not accept a gift or
donation whatever it may be, they would have to direct staff to return that gift or
donation to the individual or organization as soon as possible.
e. After acceptance by the City Council, donated funds that are not designated to a
specific purpose or department shall be placed in a generic donation revenue
account that becomes miscellaneous revenue of the City in that specific year.
f. All gifts and donations become City property under the complete jurisdiction of the
City Council and any unused balance of designated funds from a program that has
been completed, cancelled, etc., shall become part of the donation account of the
receiving department.
g. Recognition shall be given to the individuals or groups providing gifts and don_ ations
to the City, unless otherwise stipulated by the donor.
h. The gift or donation must meet City criteria in order to be accepted. (See following)
CRITERIA
a. The gift or donation must have a purpose consistent with those of the City.
b. The gift or donation must be offered by a source acceptable to the City.
c. All designated donations of funds shall be utilized in accordance with the
accompanying designation.
d. The gift or donation shall not result in ongoing costs that the City Council would be
unwilling to fund when the gift or donation funds are exhausted, unless specific
authorization to the contrary is given by the City Council at the time the gift or
donation is accepted. If this type of upfront authorization is not given, sufficient gifts
or donations to meet all anticipated staff and material costs need to be in hand
before City commitment is made to personnel and /or materials.
e. The gift or donation shall not bring undesirable or hidden costs to the City.
f. The gift or donation shall not be inappropriate or harmful to the residents of the City.
g. The acceptance of a gift or donation shall not imply City endorsement of any product
or service.
h. The gift or donation shall not be in conflict with any provision of federal, state or
municipal law. .
PROCEDURES — EXPENDITURE
a. When donations are received, a special donation account will receive the funds and
the applicable department will be responsible for the future expenditures from that
account.
b. After the actual expenditure is made, staff will bring to the Council a form (attached)
that will amend both the revenue and expenditure budgets by the amount of the
donation received. Because amending the budget needs to be done by resolution,
the form that the Council approves allows for timely handling of donations while the
actual resolution approving all of the budget amendments will be done on a quarterly
basis.
DONATION REVENUE WORKSHEET
RECEIPT OF DONATION
Donation Received On:
Amount Received: $
Purpose of Donation:
Account # for Donation:
(Must be Liability # Assigned for Each Individual Department)
EXPENDITURE OF DONATION
Amount to be Spent:$
To be Spent from Account #:
(Must be Expenditure # Corresponding to Individual Department)
Purpose of Expenditure:
AMENDMENT OF BUDGETS
Amend Donation Revenue Account #101 - 36230 -00 -000:$
Amend Expenditure Account # :$
(The Two Dollar Amounts Must be the Same)
GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRY TO ADJUST DONATION LIABILITY #
Debit: (Donation Liability #) $
Credit: 101 -36230-00-000 $
Journal entry to reduce deferred donation revenue account and increase donation
revenue account to actual per City Council action on:
r-
G H A R T E R E D
September 25, 2001
Mr. Tom Burt
City Administrator
City of Rosemount
2875 145' St. W.
Rosemount, MN 55068
470 Pillsbury Center
200 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis MN 55402
(612) 337 -9300 telephone
(612) 337 -9310 fax
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RE: Acceptance of Private Donations
CHARLES L. LEFEVERE
Attorney at Law
Direct Dial (612) 337 -9215
email: clefevere @kennedy- graven.com
SEP 2 0 2001
Dear Tom:
You have asked for my general comments on the acceptance by the City of private donations. I
have also reviewed the City's donation policy, which was forwarded to me by Jeff May.
Minnesota law authorizes the acceptance of gifts by cities in Minnesota Statutes, Sections 465.03
and 465.04, which provide as follows:
465.03 Gifts to municipalities.
Any city, county, school district or town may accept a grant or devise of real or
personal property and maintain such property for the benefit of its citizens in
accordance with the terms prescribed by the doii g lierelr� s hall or. Nothin .t ^.^
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such acceptance or use for religious or sectarian purposes. Every such acceptance
shall be by resolution of the governing body adopted by a two thirds majority of
its members expressing such terms in full [underlining added]
465.04 Acceptance of gifts.
Cities of the second, third, or fourth class, having at any time a market value of
not more than $41,000,000, exclusive of money and credits, as officially
equalized by the commissioner of revenue, either under home rule charter or
under the laws of this state, in addition to all other powers possessed by them,
hereby are authorized and empowered to receive and accept gifis and donations
for the use and benefit of such cities and the inhabitants thereof upon terms and
conditions to be approved by the govemina bodies of such cities and such cities
CLL- 203501 v l
RS215 -1
Mr. Tom Burt
September 25, 2001
Page 2 of 3
are authorized to comply with and perform such terms and conditions, which may
include payment to the donor or donors of interest on the value of the gift at not
exceeding five percent per annum payable annually or semiannually, during the
remainder of the natural life or lives of such donor or donors. [underlining added]
Section 465.03 relates specifically to real or personal property (i.e. not cash). It would seem that
acceptance of real or personal property under the authority of this section requires the City
Council to accept it by a resolution adopted by a two- thirds vote of the Council. For reasons that
I do not understand, Section 465.04 does not require a resolution or a two thirds vote and is not
specific as to the type of property that cities may accept as gifts. Therefore, under Section
465.04, arguably a city could receive a gift of real or personal property without a resolution
adopted by a two- thirds vote of the council.
However, because the receipt of tangible property and real estate may be complicated and expose
the City to costs to maintain and preserve the property, it is probably advisable to have the City
Council accept such a donation by resolution adopted by a two- thirds vote, particularly if there
are terms or "strings" attached to the donation. Therefore, I would recommend that in the case of
donations other than cash, the City Council adopt a resolution accepting the donation. Apart
from the legal requirements, it may be a good idea to have such a formal and public acceptance
of such gifts to acknowledge the generosity of the donor.
Cash may be accepted by the City under Section 465.04. As noted above, no resolution or
extraordinary majority is required. However, it does require that the City Council act to approve
any "terms or conditions" attached to the gift.
If no strings are attached to the gift of cash, and the use of the cash is not limited by the donor in
any way, I believe that the donation may be accepted without action by the City Council. The
only reason why the City Council might wish not to authorize staff to accept such contributions
as a routine matter is the possibility that the City may find that it has accepted donations from
individuals or organizations where such acceptance is politically embarrassing. Apart from this
Political question, it seems to me that the City could authorize staff to receive all gifts of cash
� L r �4�
0 -Mered �iitho t con�:i*io(is as iv the use oftl' Cuii:.
In some cases, cash is contributed with strings or conditions attached. I would recommend that
such "terms and conditions" be approved by the City Council as required by Section 465.04.
However, if the City Council wishes to do so, I see no reason why the Council could not adopt a
Policy "pre- authorizing" acceptance of cash donations subject to stated limitations. For example,
the City Council might authorize the receipt of cash contributions (possibly with a limitation of a
stated number of dollars, above which City Council authorization would be required) for such
stated purposes as DARE, Leprechaun Days, specified police department equipment such as
Kevlar vests, specified fire department equipment such a thermal imaging devices, and the like.
The current donation policy of the City does not address these issues, although it is implied that
City employees are authorized to receive a donation. Therefore, I would recommend that the
CLL- 203501 vl
RS215 -1
I .
Mr. Tom Burt
September 25, 2001
Page 3 of 3
City Council consider amending its donation policy, or adopting another policy, to address the
procedures for receipt of gifts by the City.
Please give me a call if you have any questions.
Very truly yours,
Charles L. LeFevere
CLL:lh
CLL- 203501v1
RS215 -1
November 19, 1991
CITY OF ROSEMOUNT
POLICY TITLE
POLICY NUMBER
PROPOSED BY
DATE APPROVED
BY CITY COUNCIL
DONATION.POLICY
F - 2
ADMINISTRATION
NOVEMBER 19, 1991
PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy will be to establish specific
guidelines for the handling of funds donated to the City of Rosemount.
During - each year, residents, civic organizations, etc., donate
funds to the City of Rosemount. These funds are sometimes given for a
specific purpose (i.e.:park equipment, D.A.R.E.) and other times the
funds are donated without stipulation. The following procedure
outlines the course of action that should be followed when such funds
are received by the City.
PROCEDURE
A. City employees, when receiving a donation should attempt to have
the contribution designated to a specific purpose, specific
activity, a specific piece of equipment, and /or a specific
program, etc.
B. Documentation of such designation must accompany the donation.
Without such documentation, the donatiot.i may not be carried over
to the next fiscal year and therefore may be lost. The
documentation should be in the form of a memo or letter on the
organizations letterhead if available.
C. When designated, the donation should be placed in the designated
account established for the specified purpose such as D.A.R.E.,
parks equipment, etc. (Utilization of designated accounts allows
for the long term use of these special resources.)
D. Donated funds which are not designated to a specific purpose
shall be placed in a generic donation revenue account.
E. A donation committee, consisting of the Mayor, City Administrator
and Finance Director shall meet in April and October, if
necessary, to review the status of the undesignated donation
account and recommend expenditures to the City Council for their
approval.
F. Department heads shall submit a request for funds within the
undesignated donation account to the Finance Director two weeks
prior to each Donation Committee Meeting. This will only be
necessary if funds are available for distribution.
G. The Donation Committee will make recommendations as to the most
appropriate uses of the undesignated donation funds.
H. All designated donation funds shall be utilized in accordance
with the accompanying designation.
I. Unused funds within the General Fund Undesignated Donation
account will not be carried forward to the following year.
.
J. Donations are not to be solicited by any employee of the City of
Rosemount. However, when requested, employees are available to
work with citizens, organizations, etc., on such efforts.
K. Any unused balance of funds from a program that has been
completed,,cancelled, etc., shall become part of the undesignated
donation account distributed by the Donation Committee per City
Council approval.
L. Non - monetary donations (land, equipment) shall be reviewed by the
Donation Committee, who will make recommendations to the City
Council on the appropriate use of such donations.
BUDGETING PROCEDURE
Handling of Undesignated Donation:
I. If donations received will be spent in same year
a. When the donation is received:
1) Debit - Cash (10100)
Credit - Donation Revenue (36230)
b. When making the expenditure:
1)
Go to council to amend both Revenue and Expenditure
budgets by the amount of donation received
2)
Make expenditure out of budget account number that was
amended
Debit - Expenditure Account
Credit - Cash (10100)
II. If donations received in one year will be spent in a following
year
a. When
the donation is received:
1)
Debit - Cash (10100)
Credit - Deferred Revenue (222_)
b. When
making the expenditure:
1)
Go to council to amend both Revenue and Expenditure
budgets by the amount of the expenditure from the
Deferred Revenue for the donation
2)
Make expenditure out of budget account number that was
amended
Debit - Expenditure Account
Credit Cash (10100)
Debit - Deferred Revenue ;(previously set up)
Credit - Donation Revenue (36230)
Creating NeighbAoods of Merit
Mayor Cathy Busho
City Council Members
Rosemount City Hall
Rosemount, Minnesota
RE: Contractor Property Developers Company (CPDC) Donations
Dear Mayor Busho and Council Members:
Recently, discussions have been made about the donation we made to the City of
Rosemount for the beautification and revitalization of downtown Rosemount. Since
questions were raised about our motives that we believe were stated inaccurately, we
would like to set the record straight.
CPDC as a wholly owned subsidiary of Scherer Bros. Lumber has developed a
philosophy that really began when we started planning Liberty on the Lake in Stillwater.
We wanted to build residential communities that were different than the typical suburban
neighborhood. We wanted to build places of interest, create real community
involvement, have neighbors know neighbors, be active in civic and community events,
do what we call "on the street" building of having neighbors participating with neighbors
in planned events and social activities. Our belief has been that if we actively participate
in building real social involvement within our own neighborhoods, we would tear down
the walls of social economic barriers that so often exist within communities where there
is significant difference in housing types and perceived values. I have built and
developed neighborhoods where values were perceived rich on one side and perceived
poorer on the other, and believe me, we created one heck of a mess for our homeowner
association and frankly I believe ultimately effected property values for our consumers
but we didn't create an overall community that was perceived as a great place to live and
raise a family.
M
Now, I don't claim to know all the answers by any stretch of the imagination. But
I do know that what we are building at Liberty and beginning in Evermoor makes real
sense. We have on our payroll a "community developer director" whose full time job is
planning monthly social events and writing our community newsletter (copies of which
I've enclosed for your review). Her job is to find people of common interest and get
them together to meet others of common interest and the next thing you know, we have
gar d clubs, walking clubs, dinner clubs, football teams, baseball teams, golfing team
CPDC Corporate fices:
The Quadrant Building - 7100 Northland Circle - Suite 108 - Minneapolis, MN 55428
phone: (763)971 -0477 - fax: (763)971 -0576 - email: cpdc@schererbro
baby sitting point systems, parades, floats, parties, celebrations, charitable clubs, etc. etc.
etc._ It's _absolutely _amazing _how important this social building becomes. _It's as _ though
__
we have reached out and organized whole groups of people who used to live at the end of
a cul -de -sac street and only vaguely knew their neighbors and helped them to learn to live
a life that many of us had forgotten how to do years ago. It really is amazing how happy
these people really are.
We don't believe its enough to create physical improvements within our
subdivisions, we believe it's important to publicly demonstrate our commitment to
improvements that benefit the entire City. Therefore, it's been our practice to make
contributions of different kinds for the benefit of all. We contribute to a number of local
fund raising efforts for kids that include things like elementary school functions, city park
building efforts, contributions to improving little league ballparks, high school benefits,
City parades, etc. etc. We recognize that we really are no different when developing
master planned communities than any business might be that is living in the City.
Everyone benefits from improving the quality of life. In fact we probably feel more
compelled than most industries do because we have such a strong interest in social
community building efforts. When we were organizing our grand opening gala at
Evermoor, we obtained significant contributions from vendors, trades and suppliers that
do work for us. Part of their contribution to us was in turn presented to the City for the
City's use, as they wanted. There is no merit to any idea that CPDC made our donation
to the City with a quid pro quoin mind. We just don't do business that way and if some
consultant represented to the City that this was our intention, we would certainly like to
know because they would no longer be associated with our firm in any capacity.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be developing in your City. We will
continue to make contributions in the future to good causes that meet with our objectives
of improving the quality of life for all residents. The beatification and revitalization of
your downtown is certainly one of those benefits for all to enjoy. If you have any
concerns or questions, please feel free to call me direct at 763 - 971 -0477.
Yours truly,
Homer H. Tompkins III
President