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Palo Alto committee approves FY2025 year-end actuals, sends memorandum to council
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to approve the city’s fiscal year 2025 year-end actuals and forward the memorandum to the council. Staff said revenues came in below adopted levels largely because an EPA reimbursement grant posted in the next fiscal year; base program expenditures tracked close to budget.
The Palo Alto Stormwater Committee approved a memorandum recommending acceptance of the city’s fiscal year 2025 year-end actuals and agreed to forward the memo to the City Council.
Michelle (presenter) told the committee the adopted FY2025 revenue estimate was about $10.319 million while actual revenues totaled $9.404 million, a shortfall she attributed mainly to timing on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reimbursement grant. Michelle said the adopted budget included $1,216,000 of the EPA grant as anticipated revenue for FY2025, but only $208,000 was received and recognized in FY2025; the remaining reimbursable amounts are shown in the adopted FY2026 budget until the corresponding project expenses are incurred.
On expenses, Michelle said the ongoing base program—operations and maintenance, flood mitigation, stormwater quality protection and administrative support—was adopted at $5.665 million and reported actuals near $5.001 million. She told the committee the principal budget variance on the base program reflected higher administrative support costs and overtime related to storm responses.
Michelle explained that capital projects routinely create a difference between adopted budget and year-end actuals because adopted amounts show the full cost of capital projects programmed in that fiscal year while actuals reflect only the portion spent within the year; unspent appropriations are reappropriated into later years.
During questions, committee members asked for clarification on the debt service line (a carryover from the prior ballot measure that was shown in the adopted budget but not realized in FY2025 actuals) and on the fee-setting mechanism (fee increases are governed by the ballot measure and indexed to the December Bay Area CPI, or capped at 6 percent, whichever is lower). Pam and Michelle also confirmed that the $208,000 of EPA grant revenue appears on the capital improvements line as a reimbursement to an identified green stormwater infrastructure project.
With no further discussion, the chair called the question. The committee approved the memorandum recommending acceptance of the FY2025 actual expenditures; the chair announced the motion passed unanimously and staff recorded the approval in the meeting record.
