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Columbus council reviews FY24 reconciliation; finance director says revenues largely exceeded estimates but a $2.4 million shortfall remains
Summary
Finance director presented the FY24 final budget reconciliation, saying revenues finished above estimates in most categories but the city faces a roughly $2.4 million shortfall requiring use of reserves and reallocation across departments. Council deferred final vote to next meeting at the finance director's request.
The City of Columbus Finance Director (Miss Alexander) told the Columbus City Council on Dec. 10 that the administration is seeking a final reconciliation of the FY24 budget before auditors close the year. The amendment would adjust the prior-year budget to align recognized revenues with final expenditures and close the audit process.
Miss Alexander said revenues across most categories — property tax, sales and use tax, business and other taxes, charges for services and interest income — came in higher than were budgeted for FY24, reducing the overall pressure on reserves. She said total FY24 general fund spending was just over $205 million and that the reconciliation will increase the previously adopted FY24 budget by roughly $2.4 million to account for departmental overages and other obligations.
Why it matters: the reconciliation is the last step to close the city’s accounting records for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 and to allow external auditors to issue their reports. It also determines the final fund-balance (reserve) position that will feed into FY25 planning.
Alexander walked the council through detailed slides of fund-balance trends and revenue variances. She said Columbus would end FY24 with an estimated 113.62 reserve days (un-audited), noting the Government Finance Officers Association recommends no less than 60 days and the city’s own policy targets 90 days. The director said receipts that exceeded budget included: business and other taxes (+$8.3 million), property taxes (+$6.5 million), sales and use taxes (+$4.6 million), charges for services (+$3.8 million) and interest income (+$2.7 million).
On spending, she flagged department overages in the city attorney’s office (litigation), planning (personnel), public works (facilities maintenance, street-light energy), the sheriff’s office (inmate medical and jail operations) and the coroner’s office. Alexander described the reconciliation process as reallocating funds from departments that came in under budget to those that exceeded their budgets and absorbing a small net draw on reserves.
Council discussion focused on clarity for residents and new council members. Councilor Lehi Davis asked whether carryover items listed in the reconciliation would still be used for the originally budgeted purposes; Alexander replied yes — most carryovers are previously authorized items that did not occur in FY23 and are being moved forward to be spent in FY24. Davis and other councilors emphasized the importance of clear public communication that carryovers are planned expenditures, not unallocated surpluses.
Next steps: The finance director asked for time to finalize materials and the council agreed to consider the ordinance on second reading at its next meeting. No final appropriations were adopted on Dec. 10.
Ending: The council and finance staff said they will provide the audit-close reconciliation documents and a short public explainer at next week’s meeting so councilors and residents can review line-item changes before a final vote.
