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Finance committee reviews interim financials and draft audit; fund-balance transfer noted
Summary
City staff briefed the finance committee on general fund interim results for the quarter ending March 2025 and presented draft audited financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2024, noting revenue and expenditure variances and transfers to reserves.
City staff presented interim financial reports for the quarter ending March 31, 2025, and a draft of the audited financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2024, at the May 19 Bangor City Finance Committee meeting.
Staff said general fund revenues exceeded the adopted budget by about $1.2 million (roughly a 1.3% positive variance) after excluding school-related revenues. Major contributors cited included higher-than-expected excise-tax receipts, increased commercial-trash revenue (about $214,000), and additional childcare and permitting fees tied to building and marijuana licenses. On expenditures, staff reported a roughly $2.9 million positive variance after removing education costs, which staff attributed primarily to vacancies during the 2024 fiscal year and a lower-than-budgeted level of general-assistance claims.
Staff explained certain timing and allocation items that affect monthly comparisons: property tax billing rules that cause large variances in tax revenue timing, motor-pool billing of departments (often posted July 1), insurance billed centrally and allocated to departments later, and the pension-obligation-bond payment that posts in May (staff said a $2.0–$2.2 million payment would post soon). The packet included fund balance detail and a footnote listing reserves; staff said $4.5 million was transferred to reserves and that the charter’s fund-balance sufficiency target is 8.33%–16.66% of operating expenses (one to two months of operating costs).
Committee members asked about a large school-related carryforward in the revenue schedule; staff suggested the figure dated partly to COVID-era funding and said the school department could provide more detail. Staff also noted that a state adjustment to revenue sharing could negatively affect the city — an item staff planned to highlight at an upcoming meeting.
No formal committee votes were recorded on the financial materials; staff said the draft audit numbers had been tested and compliance with federal grant requirements and footnote disclosures remained under review.
