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Yolo Habitat Conservancy reports midyear budget shortfall; fee inflation adjustment minimal
Summary
At a March 17 meeting the Conservancy reviewed a midyear budget showing far lower mitigation-fee receipts than budgeted and received a memorandum on an automatic fee inflation adjustment described as minimal this year.
The Yolo Habitat Conservancy received a midyear budget update on March 17 showing substantially lower mitigation-fee revenue than planned and reviewed the annual, automatic development-fee inflation adjustment memorandum.
Staff told the board the mitigation-fee fund, which supports day-to-day operations and land acquisitions, had budgeted $700,000 for the fiscal year but had collected $13,311 in mitigation fees in the first half. "We have no control over the timing in which development fees get collected," the interim executive director said, explaining that receipt of large project fees depends on when applicants submit applications and pay fees.
Staff reported there was reasonable expectation of additional revenue this fiscal year: about $215,000 that had either been deposited by January or was near-certain to arrive in the next month, plus roughly $500,000 to $550,000 in fees the agency anticipates but cautioned might slip into the next fiscal year depending on market conditions. The transcript records those figures as staff estimates and not as firm guarantees.
On expenditures, staff noted a variance in auditing and accounting: $36,480 spent against a $25,000 budgeted amount because the audit for fiscal year 2022-23 completed late and the agency paid part of that audit during the current fiscal year. Staff also identified a large amount budgeted but not yet spent in the easements non-depreciable category, noting roughly $1.5 million set aside for a conservation easement tied to a mitigation trust account; staff said the exact easement cost will follow an appraisal.
The Conservancy also reported an assigned fund balance of $660,086 that staff described as a savings buffer into which the agency has moved about $200,000 per year in recent budgets. The board received the midyear update; no vote was required on the report.
Separately, staff presented the 2025 automatic inflation adjustment to the Yolo HCP/NCCP development fees. The interim executive director described the update as "one of the most minimal fee increases we've seen to date" and referenced a per-acre change staff described on the record as "like, a hundred and 13 or a hundred and $16 this year per acre." Staff said the board's practice has been to announce the March update and make new fees effective April 1 so applicants can pay the older fee if they submit before the change takes effect.
Board members asked clarifying questions about fee timing and internal fund structure; Supervisor Vixie Sandy praised staff for presenting "a clean budget." There were no public comments on either item recorded in the transcript.
