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Riverview finance staff presents conservative general fund budget; keeps millage estimate unchanged
Summary
City finance staff recommended budgeting a conservative 2025 general fund estimate and outlined revenue drivers including property taxes, state shared revenue, a new marijuana sales tax line and one-time transfers; the council was briefed on capital placeholders and next steps for public hearings.
Riverview finance staff presented a draft general fund budget and recommended keeping the taxable-value/millage estimate conservative rather than assuming a higher figure tied to an unresolved DTE exemption.
The recommendation matters because the general fund is the city's primary discretionary operating fund. Finance staff said they prefer to budget using the lower estimate so the city will “need to live within our budget” if a higher assessed value is later reversed or removed.
Finance director Anne (identified in the meeting as the presenter of the general fund material) told council members the meeting would “concentrate on general fund, which is where most of the spending is, for the government.” She drew attention to the millage and taxable-value estimates and said she received confirmation that estimated 2025 taxable value used for budgeting should remain conservative given ongoing legal uncertainty about an exemption sought by DTE. Anne summarized major revenue categories and one-time items: property taxes (including the public safety and fire mills) remain the largest single revenue source; the city will budget state-shared revenue replacements (about $205,000) related to prior personal property tax elimination; and for the first time the draft includes a marijuana sales tax projection (about $200,000).
Key revenue and budget points discussed: - Property taxes are the single largest general fund revenue and include the general mill, public safety mill and fire mill; finance staff walked the council through how those allocations appear on the tax roll. - State-shared revenue includes the constitutional/state shared revenue and a replacement amount for eliminated personal property tax (Anne cited roughly $205,000). - The draft includes a new marijuana sales-tax estimate of approximately $200,000 for the coming year. - Charges for services (building inspections, passports) and ambulance billings were highlighted as material operating revenues; Anne said ambulance billings remain “about the same” and referenced roughly $800,000 in ambulance billings received in the prior period. - Interest income projections were lowered modestly but the finance director noted a favorable result from a Michigan CLASS investment had added to earnings.
On expenditures and capital planning, the draft budget contains placeholders for a range of capital items (police vehicle replacements, recreation playscape work, resurfacing and parking-lot repairs) and staff said final capital decisions will return to council for prioritization. Anne told the council the draft budget materials are preparatory and that final printed materials will be produced after council study and concurrence. She said March 31 financial reports would be provided to the council ahead of the public hearing cycle.
The budget discussion was informational; no formal motions or votes were taken at the workshop. Staff repeatedly characterized the book as a working draft and said final adoption will follow the required public hearings.
Council members and staff agreed to continue testing assumptions and to present adjusted draft materials at subsequent meetings for public posting and the required hearing process.
