The Tahoe Daily Tribune did an admirable job of capturing the meeting highlights. An important addition is related to Trustees Dent and Schmitz, who are both members of the Audit Committee, objections to the proposed capitalization policy. Trustee Dent pointed out the language gave staff options for capitalization instead of being clearly defined. Trustee Schmitz questioned, without an answer, as to how donations of services could be capitalized. Additionally, she commented that the language highlighted by Trustee Dent will not ensure consistency in the District’s financial reporting. Both Trustees Dent and Schmitz asked multiple times if the draft language was reviewed by the consulting firm, Moss Adams, who was hired to assist the District with their policy language. The discussion by Director of Finance Navazio was a bit confusing, however the discussion lead us to understand Moss Adams had not reviewed the policy prior to being submitted to the Board for approval. While the Chair didn’t ask for further discussion, Trustee Schmitz expressed her concerns with the draft fund balance policy because it didn’t have an upper threshold defined whereby refunds or reductions of the District’s Recreations Fee would be enacted. The draft policies were passed by a 3-2 vote with Trustees Callicrate, Tonking and Wong in favor with Dent and Schmitz opposing.
The Tahoe Daily Tribune article may be found by clicking here.