Bothell finance director reports $25M-plus year-end fund balance; flags inflation and grant risks

Bothell’s finance director told the City Council Tuesday that the city closed the 2023–24 biennium with roughly $383,500,000 in revenues, $359,800,000 in expenditures and an ending fund balance of just over $25,000,000, much of it one-time money.

“We received $383,500,000 in revenues,” Quan Wong said while briefing council members on the closeout. He told the council that about $16,000,000 of the fund balance is in the general fund but stressed that much of the balance is one-time: “I want to emphasize most of the money is a one-time thing,” Wong said, citing a technical transfer of close to $5,000,000 in remaining ARPA funds, an unexpected roughly $12,000,000 in interest earnings and about $2,000,000 more in school-zone camera fines than projected.

Wong told the council that staff achieved about a 99% expenditure rate in the general fund and that many capital projects are still in progress, creating timing gaps that also inflate the apparent fund balance. He warned council members to watch inflation and labor costs; the proposed 2025–26 budget includes a 4% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), while March inflation was about 3.6%.

Wong outlined risks to the city’s capital facilities plan funding, noting that more than half of that revenue comes from federal and state grants and that state budget shortfalls could change project timing. He said staff will return with quarterly updates and may need to reprioritize projects: “We may need to move projects up and down,” he said.

No council action was required; the presentation was a briefing and closeout report. Council members thanked finance staff for conservative management and tracking; several council members praised staff for reaching the closeout without major budget requests.