Council accepts January financial report, staff flags sales-tax trends

City finance staff presented the City of Sydney’s January financial report during the Feb. 11 City Council meeting and the council voted 5-0 to accept the report.

Finance staffer Kagan summarized January as “definitely was a little bit more of a a positive month, across the board,” and walked council through revenue and expenditure highlights, including property tax and motor vehicle sales tax increases and a decline in sales tax compared with the prior year.

Key figures cited by staff included a reported property-tax/motor-vehicle-related increase of about $24,900 (17.07%), a sales-tax decrease of about $8,200 (–4.13%), and a fees-for-service increase of roughly $18,200 (104.6%) driven in part by cemetery openings and facility rentals. Staff also noted state, federal and county reimbursements were up about $11,300 (29.76%) largely due to transportation reimbursements. The landfill is carrying recent maintenance costs, including a roughly $200,000 equipment purchase that affected year-to-date results.

Kagan told the council the general fund ended January with a small negative balance for the month (reported in the transcript as negative $230) and emphasized there are several months left in the fiscal year during which revenues from seasonal activities (golf, pool and summer events) could change totals. Kagan recommended continued monitoring of sales tax and other revenue streams.

A motion to accept the financial report passed on a 5-0 roll call; the transcript records the motion as made by a council member and seconded, with roll call indicating unanimous approval. Council members asked no substantive follow-up questions during the recorded portion of the presentation.

The city manager and staff said they will continue to track trends and report back to council in future meetings.