City manager reports March revenues, CD roll plan and temporary hiring freeze

City finance staff reported March revenue figures and investment plans and the city manager announced a temporary pause on filling some vacancies to manage expenditures.

Assistant City Manager for Financial Services Miss Campbell told the council that, as of March 2025, the city had received $4,740,000 in property tax revenue, which she said equates to roughly 95% collections and is higher than the 91% collected at the same time in 2024. On sales tax, Campbell said the city had collected $883,000 through March, about 56% of the year’s budgeted amount and roughly 3% higher than the same point last year.

Campbell said two certificates of deposit (CDs) account for $114,721 in invested funds; both mature in June and staff plan to move the proceeds into the city’s reserve savings account, which is earning about 4.5% interest, rather than roll them over into new CDs with lower rates. “Between the 2, we have a total of 114,000 and dollars 114,721. My plan is in June, instead of having it roll over again, just move that money into our reserve savings account that is getting 4 and a half percent,” she said.

City Manager Lisonbee told the council that because sales-tax collections are running close to budget but there is some month-to-month variance, the city will hold several vacancies open for the second half of the fiscal year to control expenditures. “We have a couple of vacancies right now that we're going to hold, and not fill, so that we can try to control some expenditures for the second half of this fiscal year,” Lisonbee said. He added staff will provide a list of open positions to the council.

Campbell said staff will provide quarterly investment reports going forward, as recommended by the auditors, and that staff will continue to monitor revenue trends.