Pleasanton council set to review comprehensive audit of city's finances

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Pleasanton City Council will be reviewing the city’s 2024-25 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and other financial audit documents which highlight transactions and details, like how the city’s tax revenues increased, during the first council meeting of the new year.

This annual report and other related financial statements for the 2024-25 fiscal year were prepared by the city and independently audited by The Pun Group, a certified public accountant firm based in Santa Ana, according to Tuesday’s agenda report.

“The Pun Group’s opinion is the highest level of audit approval,” the staff report says. “It means that the financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).”

Every year the city is required to prepare audited financial statements, including the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) which, according to staff, is the “overall financial report for the entire City organization.” This and other related reports are then presented to the council for review and approval.

Some of the financial highlights the council will review during Tuesday’s presentation include the city’s total net position having increased by $11.5 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year; property tax and sales tax revenues having increased by a couple of percentage points; and the city’s fund balances having dropped to $183.3 million, a roughly $5 million decrease from the previous fiscal year.

“While most governmental funds had an increase in fund balance, certain revenues collected in prior fiscal years were used to support projects in the current fiscal year,” according to staff.

The staff report stated that the 2024-25 fiscal year audit did not make any findings or specific recommendations.

The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 20). The full agenda can be accessed here.

In other business:

* Staff will be presenting an update to the council on the city’s utilities programs and projects, which support the city’s water, sewer and stormwater systems, as part of the city’s ONE Pleasanton, five-year strategic plan.

The report, according to staff, will highlight the progress made on the city’s Water System Management Plan, Sewer System Management Plan and Stormwater Management Plan; summarize key regulatory requirements and implementation efforts; and provide an update on current bond-funded projects.

“The purpose of this report is to promote transparency and provide insight into the city’s ongoing efforts to effectively manage critical utility infrastructure in alignment with the city’s strategic goals … ensuring reliable and sustainable water, sewer, and stormwater services for the community while advancing accountability, environmental stewardship, and long-term system resiliency,” the staff report states.

* During the council’s consent calendar, staff will be asking the council to authorize City Manager Beaudin to enter into several professional service agreements that will cost the city millions of dollars.

Items on consent are considered routine in nature and are typically approved by a single motion.

One of the agreements is a five-year, on-call professional services agreement with Pakpour Consulting Group (PCG), which will cost the city no more than $5 million.

According to staff, the firm will help support the city’s goals of developing utility-related projects that were identified in its 20-year Capital Improvement Program.

“PCG will manage the delivery of the city’s utility CIP programs, provide program and project management staff, and work with the city to train in-house staff with the long-term goal of transitioning program oversight,” according to the staff report.

* Staff will also be seeking council’s approval to allow Beaudin to enter into a professional services agreement with Operational Technical Services for “staff augmentation services in an amount not-to-exceed $1,500,000 for a three-year term.”

According to staff, the agreement will allow Operational Technical Services to provide interim staff support for the “operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of the City’s water distribution and sewer collection systems.”

“The proposed agreement allows the City to temporarily augment existing staffing to maintain system operations for an interim period while recruitment is underway,” according to staff. “Salary savings from currently vacant positions will cover the cost of the services, and services will be reduced or terminated once vacancies are filled.”

* The council will then vote on authorizing Beaudin to exercise an extension option to the city’s maintenance and trade services agreement with East Bay Pool Service so that the swimming pool repair company can continue providing maintenance services and repairs to the Dolores Bengtson Aquatic Center.

The pool, which recently needed a boiler replacement and saw a major pump leak, is experiencing growing maintenance issues due to aging infrastructure, which is why staff is recommending that the council amend the 2023, three-year agreement with East Bay Pool Services.

The amendment, if approved, would result in a cumulative, not-to-exceed, amount of $1,124,750 across the full five-year term of the service agreement. The original contract currently has a cumulative total of $539,850 through April 2026.

* Staff will be seeking to amend the professional services contracts and increase the on-call general civil engineering professional services agreements with three companies to a grouped aggregate contract limit of no more than $1.25 million.

“The city maintains on-call general civil engineering professional services agreements to support the delivery of capital projects, development reviews, and temporary staff augmentation,” according to the staff report. “These agreements are approaching the current grouped aggregate not-to-exceed limit of $750,000 and are set to expire at the end of Fiscal Year 2025/26.”

The city is asking to increase the limit by $500,000, according to staff.