City of Bee Cave, TX Donations and Fundraising

[1]

Official comment: An example of the exclusion would be the acceptance of a road dedication for a subdivision development. Such dedications and acceptances are regulated by the city's Uniform Development Code and are not intended to fall under this article.

(a)

The City Manager or his designee is hereby authorized to accept donations, gifts, and bequests from individuals, firms, or companies, for the general use of the city as well as for specific purposes. Monetary contributions shall be deposited in a separate general fund account in accordance with established city policies and procedures of the city and shall be subject to regular city audit and budgetary procedures.

(b)

The City Manager may create such policies and rules as deemed necessary to implement and manage donations made to the city and to the economic development board. The City Manager shall create a donation form which all donating individuals must utilize when donating to the city or economic development board.

(c)

The City Manager shall designate a donation coordinator who shall be authorized to accept donations for the general use of the city or economic development board or for a requested specific purpose. The donation coordinator shall fall under the organizational structure and control of the economic development board as well as the City Manager.

(d)

All donations must be submitted to the donation coordinator or the City Manager.

(e)

Under the direction of the City Manager, the donation coordinator may accept any donations made to the city or economic development board. All acceptances must be made in writing and only by an authorized individual.

(f)

The City Manager may decline to accept any donations and may also seek, at his or her discretion, city council or economic development board's approval of the donation prior to acceptance.

(g)

Under the direction of the City Manager, the donation coordinator will review and evaluate all offers of donations to determine that the proposed donation:

(1)

Is consistent with the city's or board's purposes and mission;

(2)

That the city or board is legally able to utilize the donation; and

(3)

That the donation is not in conflict with any city ordinance, or state or federal law.

(h)

Under the direction of the City Manager, the donation coordinator shall submit all monetary donations to the finance director for deposit or inventory. The finance director shall deposit any monetary donations into the separate general fund for city donations and a separate general account for the economic development board, depending on the entity to which the donation was made.

(i)

For nonmonetary donations, the donation coordinator shall take inventory of the nonmonetary assets and submit the inventory and possession of the asset to the City Manager.

(j)

Except for easements, all donations of real property made to the city must be accepted only by the city council. Except for easements, all donations of real property made to the development corporation must be accepted only by the economic development board.

(k)

All donations to the city over $50,000.00 in value must be accepted by the city council. All donations to the economic development board over $50,000.00 in value must be accepted by the economic development board.

(l)

Donations made by the city to the economic development board do not fall under this article. Donations made by the economic development board to the city as part of a project do not fall under this article.

(m)

All donations accepted by the city will become the irrevocable property of the city to be used at its discretion for any lawful purpose. All donations accepted by the economic development board will become the irrevocable property of the board to be used at its discretion for any lawful purpose consistent with the purposes of the board.

(n)

In cases where restrictions are placed upon the use of donations, the donor must specify in writing all such instructions as to the desired use of these donations prior to acceptance. Any such restrictions on the use of the donation must be consistent with the city's or economic development board's purposes and mission.

(o)

All donations other than monetary gifts must include a statement of estimated value by the donor.

(p)

All donations presented for council acceptance must include a fiscal impact statement of any accompanying future budgetary considerations including personnel, ongoing maintenance, health, safety, or environmental issues.

(q)

All accepted donations will be disbursed or used in accordance with all city or economic development board rules, regulations, and other administrative policies.

(r)

Proposed donations to the city shall not be used by any city department until formal acceptance by the city and submission to the Finance Department for incorporation into the city's financial and other recordkeeping systems.

(s)

Donations to the city and economic development board should generally be encouraged, however, persons and businesses should not expect any reward, reciprocal benefit, or influence.

(t)

A city official, employee, or department shall not solicit, accept, or agree to any donation to the city that:

(1)

Reasonably tends to influence or reward official conduct in a quid pro quo manner; or

(2)

The city official, employee, or department knows is intended to influence or reward the discharge of official duties in a manner other than the normal execution of duties.[1]

[1]

Official Comment: In order to avoid the appearance of any impropriety, information regarding donations, the amounts, the assets, and the donor are generally to be isolated from any departments which have any decision- making authority, such as permits, planning and development, building and code enforcement, etc. This isolation of information is to be help ensure that donations do not influence regular official decision making on a day-to-day basis. This isolation, however, is not intended to prevent the city manager, finance director, the economic development board or the city council from being informed or having the necessary information needed to determine if an acceptance is appropriate.