Finance director warns July cash‑flow hits as council receives first‑quarter budget review

Soledad, the city’s finance director, told the council that Lindsay’s general fund depends heavily on monthly receipts and that timing makes the first quarter particularly tight for cash flow. She said monthly receipts—sales tax and utility user fees—account for a large share of the general fund while property taxes and some other revenues arrive semiannually or quarterly.

Staff identified two large payments due in July—each described in the presentation as exceeding $1 million—and said those outflows substantially reduce reserves early in the fiscal year. Finance staff said the city is discussing options with insurance brokers to spread the liability‑insurance payment over quarterly installments to reduce the July cash hit.

Council and staff also discussed an outstanding backlog of reimbursements tied to grant‑funded projects. Staff estimated roughly $1.7 million in unreimbursed expenses and urged departments to submit reimbursement requests on a regular schedule so the city does not need to “float” large sums of grant‑funded work on the general fund.

The finance director noted that a midyear budget review in January will provide a more complete picture and reiterated that monitoring revenues and expenses will be critical given the tight approved budget.