Atherton finance director previews FY 2025–26 budget; town shows small midyear improvement, pension and ERAF shortfalls remain

Atherton’s finance director told the Town Council and Audit Finance Committee on March 5 that the town’s midyear financial update narrows its projected fiscal 2024–25 deficit and outlines revenue and reserve assumptions the council will use during the FY 2025–26 budget process.

“This is a high level overview,” Finance Director Robert said, describing the presentation as a forecast, not the detailed expenditure plan staff will return with later in the budget cycle.

The presentation showed the general fund revenue forecast rising at midyear from $25.5 million to $26.3 million and expenditures increasing slightly to about $21.2 million. Transfers out were listed at $5.3 million, including roughly $861,000 in Certificates of Participation (COP) debt service related to the Town Center project and about $4.5 million allocated to COP projects. Staff reported a midyear projection for fiscal 2024–25 that narrows the anticipated deficit from about $830,000 to approximately $196,000.

The nut of the outlook, staff said, is that the town expects to end FY 2024–25 with a total fund balance near $12.4 million, of which roughly $6.3 million is the combined emergency and operating reserve requirement (15% emergency, 15% contingency as calculated in the staff report). That produces an estimated unallocated fund balance around $6.04 million available for one-time uses, capital…