Stonecrest council reviews midyear finances, staff outlines FY25 budget adjustments

Director Gaines presented the midyear financial report Monday, saying the city had collected $6,456,562.73 of the $17,500,000 general fund budget through June and spent about $6,000,742.60 to date.

The report matters because the council must monitor revenue timing and identify adjustments before preparing the FY26 budget. Finance staff and the city manager also used the session to describe a set of recommended budget adjustments for FY25: creation of an assistant human resources director and a facilities administrative assistant, reclassification of several revenue and procurement positions to graded career ladders, funding for a clerk of court position the council previously approved, continued payments for legacy software while implementing Tyler Technologies, and project-level coding for capital improvement dollars already funded by council.

Gaines said taxes accounted for about $5.61 million of the collections to date, with licenses and permits at $580,526 and hotel/motel taxes at $480,658. She reported SPLOST collections of $5,808,488 and a URA receipt of $408,935 and noted that most property-tax revenue typically arrives October–December, which will materially raise collections later in the year. "So revenue and expenses, we are breaking even," Gaines said during her presentation.

City manager Scruggs and Gaines explained that some budget adjustments are purely administrative: they are moving amounts already approved by council into discrete project accounts so the public and council can see spending by project. "The dollar amount is not changing," Scruggs said; the change is to add project numbers and itemize those funds in the financial system so spending per project will be visible as contracts are awarded and work proceeds.

On personnel changes, the city manager told council the assistant HR director would back up the HR director and expand responsibilities to include risk management, safety and wellness, training and workforce retention. Funding for the two new positions would come partly from the internal audit budget; staff said some of that funding could move between salary and professional services depending on whether the council ultimately chooses an FTE or an external firm for internal audit work (see related article on the charter amendment). Several purchasing and revenue positions were proposed to be reclassified into tiered specialist roles to show career progression.

Council members asked for clearer packet presentation and for the finance office to publish monthly reports earlier. Councilwoman Tammy Grimes urged that reconciled reports be available online before meetings when possible; Gaines and the city manager explained accounting close cycles and reconciliations typically take 4–6 weeks after a month-end and that some reports are presented at work session before posting. Finance said the June report would be posted to the website the morning after the work session.

The procurement manager noted that bids for several park projects had been received or are pending and that staff will bring contract awards to council for approval. Council asked staff to add a column showing the council vote date for procurements or the contract approval date to help track project timelines.

Staff said software implementations (Tyler Technologies) and legacy systems (QS1, CitizenServe) will remain funded until full implementation of the ERP. Gaines also noted AP automation work to move vendor payments into a digital system once 85% of vendors are onboarded.

The session included a preview of a financial personnel ordinance and budget amendment that staff said will come to council in ordinance form at the next regular meeting; staff reminded council the personnel ordinance will require two readings. The council did not take a final vote on the budget amendments in the work session; staff said the amendments will appear for formal action in the coming council meetings.

Ending: Finance staff will send the presentation material used in the work session to council and will finalize budget adjustment documents and an ordinance for upcoming council consideration; council members requested clearer, consistently formatted project and procurement reports for future meetings.