Nate, finance staff, told the Finance Committee the city’s budget-versus-actual and expense reports through May show revenues at 95.22% of budget while the fiscal year is 91.67% complete, and that most department revenues are tracking above 90%.

The update matters because city staff are still completing the FY25 audit and councilors pressed for clarity on capital spending, encumbrances and several line items that appear over budget. “I feel like everything’s looking, looking well for the city,” Nate said, adding he and colleagues have set audit completion as a smart-goal before the end of the calendar year.

Committee members asked for follow-up on three specific items. Councilor Michelle asked why capital improvements appear at 201% of budget and whether the city has coverage for those overruns; Nate said a portion may reflect grant revenue received in FY24 that was spent in the current fiscal year and that he would double-check the accounting. “A large portion of that was something that we received…grants money from an FY ’24,” Nate said. On the public-fire-protection line, Nate said the amount is a set quarterly payment but that he did not believe it was budgeted correctly. He told the committee he would confirm the revenue-side entries tied to that payment.

Councilors also flagged street-light expenses as over budget; Nate said he would follow up with Jason and others to explain why those amounts exceeded the current budgeted estimate. Tammy, city staff, told members the city historically encumbered unspent balances between July and September to carry funds forward and that those encumbrances are still handled after year-end close. “You can encumber the revenues as well to kind of carry them forward to the next year,” Tammy said.

The committee discussed using an external finance consultant to finalize closeout work. Nate said the city has budgeted funds for additional finance consulting and expects Sue, a consultant from Bucksport, to assist with finalization steps.

No formal votes were taken. Staff were directed to provide: (1) a department-level revenue breakdown, (2) reconciliation of capital-improvement expenses against any FY24 grant revenues, and (3) an explanation for the public-fire-protection and street-light variance. Committee members agreed to return the answers at a future meeting timeline determined by staff.

Less-critical items noted during the session included routine scheduling for next week’s warrant and a discussion of meeting dates around the July 4 holiday; councilors agreed there will be no committee meeting the week that includes July 4 and staff said they will advance payroll and bills as needed to meet payment deadlines.