Republic CFO restates 2025 budget, shifts operating items to capital and memorializes new building costs

Bob Ford, Chief Financial Officer for the City of Republic, presented a restated amended 2025 budget at a city workshop and said the changes mainly move capital-related revenue and expenditures into the capital budget while recognizing new revenue from utility rate increases.

Ford said the restated figures move capital items that had previously been in the operating budget back into capital — “We’re moving a million dollars out of the operating budget. We’re putting a million dollars in the capital budget” — and that the consolidated net surplus remains unchanged from the originally approved budget at $4,500,000 before the other amendments.

The nut graf: the amendment documents where money actually belongs, recognizes higher water and wastewater revenue from recently implemented rate changes, and shows incremental operating and capital changes that the city has already approved or expects to approve. Ford told the council the amended operating position improves by about $1,100,000 compared with the approved budget, driven mainly by higher water and wastewater revenue and increased interest income, while capital uses increase by $2,100,000 largely to fund the new administration building and a larger JR Martin Park project.

Details: Ford reported a consolidated operating surplus (restated) of about $3,500,000 and a consolidated capital surplus of about $1,000,000, which together produced a consolidated net surplus of $4,500,000 in the restated budget. He said water fund revenue increased by about $562,000 and wastewater by about $500,000 because the rate assumptions built into the original budget were too low. Interest income was up about $210,000 due to a slower spend rate and higher cash balances. Parks revenue was reduced by an estimated $187,000 because of weather and by $41,000 in rental revenue after Northpointe Church stopped holding services in city facilities.

On the expense side, Ford said personnel costs are down by $443,000 because of vacant positions and the assumed later start date for the new city administrator, while legal expenses increased by $223,000 to cover outsourced legal work discussed in executive session. He also said roughly $7,575,000 of project spending originally planned for 2026 has been pulled into 2025 for Project Genesis-related work.

Capital: Ford described a $2,100,000 net increase in capital uses compared with the approved budget. He said most of that increase is tied to the new administration building (structure, IT infrastructure and furniture), which he said will increase the general-fund cash outlay. Ford said the general fund will use about $6,500,000 of cash to fund the building, IT and furniture, from an available general-fund balance he described as “over $10,000,000” today. He told council the administration building appropriation was previously adjusted through a series of resolutions: the approved total for structure and related previously rose to $5,000,004.65 under earlier council resolutions, and separate resolutions have already approved IT SAN infrastructure ($100,000) and an incremental IT appropriation for the building ($564,500).

Ford said JR Martin Park capital moved from $1,300,000 to $2,300,000 in expected cost; the council previously approved a $1,000,000 placeholder from Arvest Bank as a funding source so bids could be solicited. He said parks vehicles totaling about $80,000 will be funded with $16,000 from parks cash and $64,000 from a Greene County grant approved in 2024. He said the furniture line in the administration building budget is a $450,000 placeholder, and bids indicate the final amount will likely be significantly less.

Debt and cash: Ford reviewed the city’s debt and said the starting debt balance was a little over $60,000,000 and will rise as the city draws SRF funds for the wastewater plant; he noted about $550,000 of principal was repaid this year on vehicles and Series 2017 debt. He cautioned that newer amortization schedules front-load lower early principal and rising principal later, meaning debt-service obligations tend to grow faster than the modest sales-tax growth assumptions used in revenue forecasts.

Process and approvals: Ford said many capital increases referenced in the amended budget have already been approved in prior council resolutions and that the purpose of the workshop presentation was to memorialize and re‑bucket items into the proper funds. No formal council votes or motions were recorded in the workshop minutes during this presentation.

Ending: Ford said the city’s amended budget shows the city’s net surplus rising from $4,500,000 to about $5,600,000 after the adjustments and reiterated the city plans to move to earlier and more frequent budget amendments in future fiscal years to reduce late-year adjustments.