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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 7/6/2021 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 085, 2021, APPROPRI Agenda Item 8 Item # 8 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 6, 2021 City Council STAFF Chris Martinez, Financial & Policy Analyst Amanda King, Communications/Public Involvement Director Carson Hamlin, Cable Television Manager Tyler Marr, Deputy Director, Information & Employee Services Ingrid Decker, Legal SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 085, 2021, Appropriating Prior Year Reserves from the Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Programming Fund in the General Fund for FC Public Media. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to appropriate $66,844 in restricted Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) reserves in the General Fund to Fort Collins Public Access Network (d/b/a FC Public Media) for eligible capital expenditures for their operation. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION FC Public Media is a non-profit organization contracted by the City to operate and manage public access TV activities the City is obligated to provide to residents of Fort Collins in the current cable TV franchise with Comcast. The primary source of equipment and capital funding for the FC Public Media operation is with PEG (public, educational and governmental) funds. This is a federally restricted fee paid by Comcast to the City that can only be used by PEG channels on the Comcast system. In Fort Collins, this includes Colorado State University (CSU), Poudre School District (PSD), Fort Collins TV (FCTV), and FC Public Media. In the past, the City has managed FC Public Media’s annual PEG allocation via reimbursement of eligible expenditures, purchasing capital expenditures on its behalf, or distributions upon request. The balance of any year-end, unexpensed PEG funds are held in a restricted reserve balance for future FC Public Media uses and requests. With the new contract in place with FC Public Media, it will now receive its annual PEG funding in one annual disbursement to use for equipment upgrades. This is the same methodology used to disburse PEG funds to CSU and PSD. Per FC Public Media’s request, staff is requesting disbursement of the balance of FC Public Media’s current PEG reserve of $66,844 to fund the replacement of video equipment used in its operation. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS This Ordinance increases 2021 appropriations for the PEG Programming Fund in the General Fund by $66,844. Since PEG programming is a restricted fund and this dedicated reserve balance belongs to FC Public Media, there is no negative impact to the City budget. -1- ORDINANCE NO. 085, 2021 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES FROM THE PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENTAL (PEG) PROGRAMMING FUND IN THE GENERAL FUND FOR FC PUBLIC MEDIA WHEREAS, as a condition of its franchise agreement with the City, Comcast collects from its cable television subscribers and pays to the City a fee of 75 cents per residential subscriber per month to be used for the capital costs related to providing public, educational and governmental (“PEG”) access cable channels; and WHEREAS, the City contracts with Fort Collins Public Access Network (d/b/a FC Public Media), a non-profit organization (“FCPM”), to operate and manage the public access television services the City is obligated to provide to residents of Fort Collins under the Comcast franchise agreement; and WHEREAS, in the past, the City has managed FCPM’s PEG funds for it, but has now agreed to provide PEG funds to FCPM in one annual disbursement to be used for equipment upgrades; and WHEREAS, there is currently $66,844 in FCPM’s PEG reserve fund, and this appropriation would permit those funds to be disbursed to FCPM to replace video equipment used in its operations; and WHEREAS, this appropriation benefits the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of providing public access television for the City’s residents; and WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9 of the City Charter permits the City Council, upon the recommendation of the City Manager, to appropriate by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year such funds for expenditure as may be available from reserves accumulated in prior years, notwithstanding that such reserves were not previously appropriated; and WHEREAS, the City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein and determined that this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from the General Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the General Fund to exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to be received in that Fund during this fiscal year. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. -2- Section 2. That there is hereby appropriated for expenditure from prior year reserves from the Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Fund in the General Fund the total sum of SIXTY-SIX THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR DOLLARS ($66,844) for Fort Collins Public Access Network, d/b/a FC Public Media, for eligible capital expenditures and equipment. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 6th day of July, A.D. 2021, and to be presented for final passage on the 20th day of July, A.D. 2021. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on 20th day of July, A.D. 2021. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk