Donna Witt, the city's chief financial officer, told council that overall revenue collections are essentially flat compared with budgeted projections and that staff will reassess unassigned fund balance figures and top off a previously authorized contingency allocation later in the fiscal year.
Witt cited small variances across categories: sales tax was effectively on budget (the presentation showed a $3,982 variance described as meeting budget), electric receipts were up about $31,000 over two months, and meals and lodging taxes showed small deviations with lodging down in August due to timing of events compared with the prior year. Witt said staff expects to revisit the unassigned fund-balance and restore a $25,000 contingency allocation (previously identified for the Central Virginia Alliance for Community Living) around January once final numbers are available.
Council members asked clarifying questions about the source of the contingency, the timing for restoring it, and the format of committee records. The CFO said the dollar amounts for matched grant obligations are available in departmental budgets and that staff can provide fuller records of finance-committee notes or minutes if council prefers.
Why this matters: The revenue update frames near-term budget decisions and confirms that several grant matches and contingency commitments can be funded from existing general-fund balances; staff signaled monitoring will continue and a formal restoration of the contingency is likely to occur once final balances are calculated.
No formal vote was required for the informational update.