Finance staff briefs council on city revenue mix and trends; property tax remains largest single source

City finance staff gave an informational briefing on Jan. 28 outlining Meridian’s main revenue sources, how the city classifies ongoing versus one-time revenues and fiscal-year 2024 actual results.

"This is an informational presentation, not looking for direction," the presenter told the City Council. The council was shown that the general fund produced about $101 million in fiscal year 2024. Finance staff split that into ongoing revenues of roughly $65.7 million and one-time revenues of about $35.3 million.

Ongoing general-fund revenues are dominated by property taxes, state liquor revenue sharing, state sales-tax sharing and franchise fees, the presenter said. Property taxes comprised about $48.2 million of the general fund in fiscal 2024; within that, base property tax made up roughly $45.9 million, with about $1.5 million attributed to new construction. The presenter noted a downward trend in new-construction revenue since 2020, reporting $1.5 million for fiscal 2024 and an estimate closer to $1.3 million in fiscal 2025.

The presenter said changes in state formulas have reduced the city’s growth in liquor and sales-tax sharing. "We had a 170. Now we're at about 51,000 of new money" for liquor revenue sharing compared with earlier years, the presenter said, and a similar downward shift appeared in sales-tax allocations after a state formula change. Franchise fees (electric, cable/Internet, gas) also showed a downward trend as cable-video subscriptions decline and streaming alternatives expand.

On the enterprise side, the staff described water sales, sewer sales and trash-billing services as the major ongoing enterprise revenues, noting the enterprise fund generated about $56 million in fiscal 2024 with $33 million ongoing and $22 million one-time. Water and sewer sales remain relatively stable and are treated as ongoing revenues because usage is consistent.

Council members asked for seasonal context for building-permit-driven new-construction numbers and encouraged staff to show seasonality in quarterly comparisons; the presenter said staff will provide that analysis. Council also asked about the mechanics of state distributions for liquor and sales-tax revenue, and staff replied that state formulas and PUC rules govern those distributions and that the city is a recipient under state-administered formulas.

The presentation will be circulated to council as a nine-part email series, and staff offered to post or share the materials so council members and the public could review the underlying slides and formulas.

(Informational presentation; no formal council action requested.)