The Ocean Shores City Council continued to adjust the final pieces of an overall $30 million budget, ending on Monday night with a projected 2017 general fund surplus that was reduced by about $205,000 from its initial $1.5 million proposed figure.

What was somewhat unclear for the coming year is the impact of a recommendation by the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) on how to spend hotel/motel tax revenues, which are largely used to pay for the operations of the Ocean Shores Convention Center.

The final adjustments came in the form of about 10 items that were either added to the budget by council vote or put back into the spending plan. They were $18,000 for annual city cleanup; an additional $13,200 for repairs to North Bay Park; $12,000 to the Coastal Interpretive Center; $20,000 to study and develop a plan for managing the Convention Center better; $2,500 for a ductless heat pump for city-backed KOSW radio and $2,400 for radio operations; and about $72,000 (suggested by Councilman Jon Martin) to be added to the council’s contingency fund, which can only be spent for emergencies.

Also, after a suggestion by Councilman Bob Peterson, a decision was made to develop a reserve fund of $50,000 dedicated to street and road repairs; and the council also decided to make an interfund loan of $15,000 from the general fund for the Weatherwax preserve instead of from the capital improvement fund.

While council members on Monday cast differing votes on the individual items — one for $15,000 to develop a better city website was voted down — the full council did pass the overall budget 7-0 with the amendments.

Finance Director Angela Folkers told the council that any adjustments they made would have to come from the general fund ending balance portion of the budget, which started the current year with a beginning balance of $1.08 million.

Folkers noted the city is awaiting a State Auditor’s decision on whether it can still fund the Convention Center management plan put forward by the Pinnacle group from funds earmarked by the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, which recommended not funding the specific item in earlier discussions over the past month.

“We’re waiting on some guidance to see if that is a possibility to still fund with LTAC (funds) or whether we have to do it out of the general fund if the council elects to fund that,” Folkers said.

With about $1.05 million available, including about $980,000 in hotel/motel tax revenue, the LTAC found it had few dollars to spend on promotions and marketing or other requests made public in an application process that took several meetings to consider.

That’s because the city is obligated to maintain the Convention Center and pay its debt, noted City Councilman John Lynn, also an LTAC member.

To make more funds available in the 2017 budget, the LTAC had recommended holding back on one year’s debt payment to cover a previous council’s interfund loan; as well as cutting a planned maintenance fund from a proposed $75,000 to $25,000, while awarding $100,000 to the ongoing business/city Co-Op Marketing campaign that is now in its third year.

The LTAC also recommended giving $1 dollar to every applicant, except for a recommendation for no funds for the Pinnacle proposal to study, recommend improvements and potentially operate the Convention Center.

The Council on Monday took those recommendations and began to make its own adjustments, which then must be sent back to the LTAC.

Mayor Crystal Dingler noted the LTAC has 45 days to respond to the city’s decision: “They can’t change what you have done, but they have an opportunity to come back and talk about it.”

The only council member against the $20,000 for the Pinnacle plan was Jackie Farra. Councilwoman Holly Plackett moved to approve the request “to make sure marketing of the Convention Center is at the top of our list.” Councilman Gordon Broadbent added that “it’s absolutely necessary we get a review of the Convention Center.”

The only member of the public to speak against some of the adjustments was Lillian Broadbent, who noted the revisions will likely drop the ending general fund balance down to about $1.2 million: “As I look at these requests, what I don’t see is what you intend to cut out of the regular budget to accomplish this. It looks like everything is just coming out of the ending balance.“

I think that reducing then ending fund balance that far goes against what the council has been working on for many, many years.”