The Auburn City Council voted Dec. 2 to purchase roughly 13 acres adjacent to Doug Sanford Park from the Spencer family exempt trust for $4,000,000, a transaction staff said would expand youth baseball facilities and align with master-planning work at Richland Park.

City finance staff (Allison, Speaker 19) told the council the unobligated accumulated fund balance at fiscal year end was $5.7 million and explained that portion of the general fund is comprised of unspent personal services dollars and other year-end variances. "The unobligated accumulated fund balance is just general fund fund balance," Allison said, describing how unspent personnel allocations create that available balance. Councilmembers asked whether the $5.7 million figure was shown before or after reserving the $4,000,000 for the purchase; staff clarified it was the year-end balance and that using $4,000,000 from that balance would leave about $1.7 million remaining if isolated to that use.

Parks and Recreation staff described planned field layouts intended to serve older youth (13 and older) and to complement existing fields at Doc Sanford Park and Richland Park. Mayor and several councilmembers characterized the acquisition as a unique opportunity to secure land that otherwise could be developed commercially. Council approved the purchase by voice vote; the transcript records the motion carried. Staff noted a remaining related transaction with the water board (about 0.65 acres), to be handled in the next calendar year.