Allentown committee reviews August financials; general fund revenues near projections

At a Budget and Finance Committee meeting, finance staff reviewed the city's monthly financial reports for the period ending Aug. 31, 2025, detailing revenue and expenditure positions across major funds and the city's current investment holdings.

Finance department staff member Patel said general-fund revenues are at about 78% of the fiscal-year estimation model, with the largest revenue sources being property tax (reported at $37,800,000), earned income tax ($34,800,000) and the business privilege tax (about $12,000,000). Patel said the monthly report and the charts distributed to council members provide the full line-item detail.

Patel reported that general-fund expenditures are at roughly 58% of the adjusted annual budget of $154,000,000, or about $88,400,000 year to date. She said personnel costs make up 79% of general-fund expenditures; capital materials and supplies account for about 1%, services and charges about 10%, and other categories about 6%.

The presentation included public-safety premium-pay spending: police premium pay was reported at about 74% of its $2,500,000 budget (about $1,900,000 spent), fire premium pay at about 81% of a $2,500,000 budget (about $2,021,000 spent) and EMS premium pay at about 77% of a $725,000 budget (about $556,000 spent) as of Aug. 31, 2025.

Patel also reviewed other major funds. The risk fund revenues were at 68% of budget (about $21,400,000) with expenditures around 70% ($23,200,000). The solid-waste fund showed revenues at about 92% of budget (roughly $21,900,000 against a $23,800,000 budget). Stormwater revenues were at about 87% of budget (about $5,300,000 of a $6,000,000 budget) while expenditures for that fund were at about 48% of the annual budget. The golf fund reported revenues at approximately 74% of a $2,700,000 revenue target and expenditures budgeted at $3,100,000. The rental-unit (CED) fund and the new 2025 building-code fund were also summarized, with the building-code fund at about 65% of its $2,700,000 revenue estimate and expenditures at about 54% of the adopted spending plan.

On investments and cash position, Patel said the general-fund cash position at the end of August was about $62,100,000. She said roughly $51.5 million of that was invested with Plaget Investments, including about $45,000,000 in term investments earning between 4.12% and 4.36% APY; about $6.5 million was held in a prime account for liquidity and $10,600,000 in a TD Bank account yielding about 3.75% for payroll and vendor payments. Patel warned the committee that upcoming September obligations include the MMO payment and debt service that together will draw close to $19,000,000 from the general fund within the next week to week and a half.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the monthly report. Committee members asked clarifying questions and had no additional direction beyond continued monitoring and the planned follow-up items listed in the monthly packet.

Next steps: finance staff will continue Muniz implementation work (payroll and HR modules remain a focus for 2026) and will provide regular monthly reports and follow-up material requested by committee members.