Waco finance director presents FY2025 first-quarter figures; council asks for more comparative detail

The city’s managing director of finance, Colin Booth, presented Waco’s FY2025 first-quarter financial report on April 15, detailing revenues and encumbrances through Dec. 31, 2024, and asking council for feedback on report format.

Booth said the report benchmarks current performance against the same point in FY2024 and that some funds collect on different schedules than a straight quarter. "These numbers are through December 31 of, 2024," Booth said, noting his report covers the general fund and nine major funds and that the city recently closed out March and will return to a regular quarterly cadence.

Key takeaways Booth gave council: - General fund: budgeted at about $202.54 million, with revenues of roughly $65 million (about 32% of budget) reported for the quarter. State grant receipts pushed intergovernmental revenues above the FY2024 benchmark. - Property tax: collections through February are at about 96.2% of the budgeted target and were $183,919 over the monthly target at the time of the presentation. - Sales tax: collections through March were $4,368,155; Booth said year-to-date sales-tax receipts were projected slightly higher than budget but that April collections (which reflect February activity) were down 2% year over year. - Encumbrances: several funds show expense percentages above the nominal benchmark because the city records purchase orders and other commitments up front; Booth explained encumbrance accounting as a reservation of budgeted money for contracts or annual payments.

Booth also summarized enterprise funds: water and wastewater funds were generally on track with charges-for-service and higher-than-expected interest income; the solid-waste fund showed lower revenues and a one-time previously approved settlement that increased reported Q1 expenses; the zoo fund recorded capital expenditures tied to a netting purchase; and the airport fund showed higher landing fees offsetting lower passenger facility charges.

Council members asked for more comparative information and metrics. Members requested that future reports include the street fund in the major-fund summary, a year-to-date budget column for comparison to actuals, and prior-year year-to-date actuals for easier year-over-year comparisons. Council members also suggested adding KPI pages for amenity funds (zoo, airport, golf course, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame) showing attendance and merchandise trends.

Booth said staff will add the street fund to the next quarterly report, include budget-year-to-date and prior-year columns, and consider KPI metrics for amenity funds. He also said staff expect to propose a budget amendment for the solid-waste one-time expense.

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