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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESOLUTIONS-2014-004-R-141 /15/2014 4-R-14 A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Creation of a Utility and Wheel Tax Donation Program for City of Evanston Charitable Entities WHEREAS, the City of Evanston, Illinois (the "City") has historically supported various City of Evanston Charitable Entities (the "Charitable Entities"), and WHEREAS, the City of Evanston wishes to facilitate donations from individuals, community groups, and businesses that desire to make donations to certain Charitable Entities; and WHEREAS, in order to facilitate such donations, the City of Evanston directed City Staff to establish a program whereby users of the City's water utility bills and wheel tax applications may make donations associated with the payment of their water utility bill and/or wheel tax application; and WHEREAS, on January 27, 2014, the City of Evanston approved the City of Evanston Utility and Wheel Tax Donations Program (the "Program") in order to establish such program that will secure funding to Charitable Entities via City of Evanston utility bills and wheel tax applications; and WHEREAS, it is an acceptable and appropriate practice to accept donations, in order to enhance City programs and/or facilities to provide a higher level of service to the public; and 4-R-14 ` WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that the adoption of the Program as provided in this Resolution would be in the best interests of the City and its residents, NOW BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EVANSTON, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, THAT: as Exhibit A. SECTION 1: That the City Council hereby adopts the Program attached SECTION 2: That the City Manager is hereby authorized and directed to implement the Program. SECTION 3: That this Resolution 4-R-14 shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and approval in the manner provided by law. Attest j Rodr%y Gre ne, City Clerk Adopted: -7 , 2014 Eli,,a th B. Tisdahl, Mayor 2 4-R-14 EXHIBIT A CITY OF EVANSTON UTILITY DONATIONS POLICY City of EXHIBIT A 90 Evanstoir Resolution 4-R-14 Utility and Wheel Tax Donation Program 1.0 Purpose: The City of Evanston wishes to facilitate funding from individuals, community groups and business that desire to make a donation to specific City of Evanston Charitable Entities ("Charitable Entities"). The Utility and Wheel Tax Donation Program (the "Program") provides a procedure under which the securing of funds for certain Charitable Entities will be implemented via water utility bills and wheel tax applications. Such funding will occur at the time of bill and application payment as discussed below. The City Council shall determine which City of Evanston Charitable Entities will receive funding from this Program. Contributions from the Program will be accepted three times during the year. 2.0 Authority The City of Evanston City Council is the governing entity approving Resolution 4-R-14. 3.0 Application This Program is applicable to any individual, community group, and business who wish to donate funds under the Program. Individuals have the option to make a donation during each given donation collection period; there is no requirement for an individual to make any donation under this Program. Additionally, any and all City of Evanston employees who will be assisting in carrying out the Program will be required to comply under the provisions set forth under this Program. 4.0 Responsibility The City Manager, along with his or her designee, will be the responsible parties that will ensure correct implementation and execution of this policy. 5.0 Policy a. Donations provided under this Program must have a purpose consistent with City goals and objectives; b. This Program will allow the City of Evanston to facilitate donations made by users of the City's water utility bills and wheel tax applications in association with their payment of their water utility bill and/or wheel tax application; C. The Program will accept donations from any citizen, organization or business via the procedure detailed below in Section 6.0; d. The Program will allow donors to donate either a suggested donation or a donation amount of the donor's choosing; e. Donations will be accepted by the City during three collection months of the year: March, July, and November; f. Prior to the first donation period of the year, the City Manager will determine whether the City of Evanston utility bill and/or wheel tax application will be the donation collection source for each collection month; g. Prior to the first donation period of the year, City Council will determine the City of Evanston Charitable Entities to be the recipients of the collected donations from each specific collection month; h. Donors will be informed as to the Charitable Entity to receive the donations for each collection month; i. The City of Evanston will ensure that each donation will be distributed to the appropriately designated Charitable Entity as disclosed on the utility bill/wheel tax application; j. The City of Evanston strictly prohibits any person or entity from the unauthorized collection of funds on behalf of the City or any of its departments, projects, programs or services unless prior approval has been obtained by the collecting agency or person; k. Any donations will not be in conflict with any provision of the law. 6.0 Procedure DONATION PERIODS Donations will be collected three times during the year during the months of March, July and November. DONATION METHODS The processing of donations will be facilitated by the City Managers designee, which in most cases will be the City of Evanston Revenue Division of the Department of Administrative Services. Donations by mail, phone or in person. Donations made via phone, mail or in person will be identified by the City of Evanston Collecting Bank (the "Bank") as exceptions (recognized overpayments) and subsequently flagged for the Evanston Collector's Office to reconcile monies to the proper funds on a manual basis. Donations made online Those who elect to pay Utility Bills or Wheel Tax bills via eBilling will receive an email with a link to a Donations form. The resident can then donate to the identified Evanston Entity. All donations collected will be identified and reconciled to their proper accounts by the Accounting Division of the Department of Administrative Services. 2 DONATION RECIPIENTS The City Council will annually determine who the recipients of the three donation periods will be. For the first year, donations will be distributed under the following 2014 Donations Program Schedule: 2014 Donations Solicitations Schedule: (1) The Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program will collect donations received from the March 2014 donation period; (2) Evanston Trees will collect donations received from the July 2014 donation period; and (3) The Police & Fire Foundation will collect donations received from the November 2014 donation period. 3