Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fiscal Update Midyear topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Oro Valley financial update through Nov. 2024: construction sales tax and state shared revenues lagging
Summary
Town staff told the Budget and Finance Commission that through November the town's revenues are trending below last year largely because construction sales tax and state-shared revenues are down; staff lowered some year-end estimates and expect to identify savings during midyear budget review.
Town of Oro Valley finance staff reported Jan. 21 that through November of fiscal 2025 the town is 41.7% through the fiscal year and total revenues across major funds are down roughly 6% year over year, driven largely by a slowdown in construction-related sales tax and lower state-shared revenues.
Wendy (finance staff) presented the town's fiscal-year-to-date update and said local sales tax collections in the general fund are down about 3.5% versus the prior year; staff lowered the year-end estimate for local sales tax in the general fund from a budgeted $28.7 million to about $27.1 million. Construction sales tax was the principal driver: budgeted at about $5.9 million, staff now estimate roughly $4.3 million to $4.4 million for the year.
State-shared revenues are about $8.3 million through November, roughly 10% below last fiscal year; staff said that decline was anticipated when the budget was adopted. Overall, staff estimated a year-end use of general-fund balance of about $4.5 million and an estimated ending fund balance just under $17.6 million; the staff-reported reserve metric remained roughly $2.4 million above the town's 30% policy target.
On permits, staff said the budgeted forecast for single-family residential permits was 95 for the year; 52 had been issued through November. Other fund highlights presented by staff included:
- Highway fund: HEERF reimbursements and related revenues tracking as expected; estimated ending fund balance roughly $916,000. - Community Center fund: contracted operating revenue was running strong; staff reported year-to-date contracted operating actuals just under $2.0 million with a $5.2 million budget and said contractor revenues are expected to exceed budget by about 8% by year end; estimated ending fund balance about $1.9 million. - Capital projects fund: staff noted a federal capital grant had been received in December and would appear in the next monthly report; estimated ending balance about $11.7 million. - Water utility: water sales through November were about $8.3 million, up from $7.8 million last year; staff said they expect personnel savings in the water utility of about $340,000 because of vacancies and planned retirements. Staff also confirmed ARPA funds previously transferred to the water fund were expended in FY24 and were included in the single-audit reporting. - Stormwater fund: revenues and activity tracking broadly on budget; estimated ending fund balance about $651,000.
Staff said they will perform a deeper midyear scrub of department budgets, personnel savings and capital estimates and will return to the commission with refined midyear figures. Commissioners asked for additional detail on the presentation format and the staff agreed to provide follow-up analyses, particularly for capital fund transfers that are currently routed through the capital fund before subsidizing highway projects.
