Finance staff reports September month-end: taxes supply majority of general fund, investments total $61.7M

City finance staff presented September 2025 month-end financial results to the Budget & Finance Committee on Sept. 30, reporting that taxes supply roughly 71% of general fund revenues and that personnel costs account for about 74% of general fund expenditures.

The presenter, Bina Patel, city controller, said the city’s major tax sources include a city real estate tax (reported at $38.5 million in the presentation), earned income tax (approximately $34.8 million reported), a business privilege tax (about $12.2 million reported) and deed transfer tax (roughly $1.8 million reported). Patel said intergovernmental sources — including state aid for pensions, casino fees and training reimbursements — made up about 14% of “other revenues.”

Patel said the total adjusted general fund budget is $152 million and that department personnel costs remain the largest single spending category. “The personnel costs account for 74% of the general fund expenditures,” Patel said, and staff reported that the largest month-over-month savings were in services and charges and materials and supplies.

The presentation included line-item and graphical fund summaries: the risk fund revenues were reported at about 76% of budget with expenditures at about 79%; solid-waste enterprise revenues were near 96% of budget with expenditures showing year-over-year savings; stormwater revenues were reported at about 93% of budget with expenditures at about 53% of budget; golf operations revenues were at roughly 87% of budget with expenditures showing 14% savings compared with the adjusted budget.

Patel noted the rental unit fund revenues were at about 49% of the budgeted $2.6 million, with expenditures at about 69% of its $3.0 million budget. She also reminded the committee that the building code fund is a new fund for 2025; she reported building code fund revenues at about 73% of the $2.7 million budget and expenditures at about 65%.

On liquidity and investments, Patel said the city closed September with a general fund cash position of $61.7 million. She reported that 47% of that cash was invested in the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust (Plagit), with $12 million in Plagit Prime earning 4.05% APY and roughly $35 million in term investments yielding roughly 3.89%–4.36% APY depending on the instrument. Patel said an additional $14.5 million was held in liquid assets at TD Bank to meet payroll and vendor payment needs, with a current yield of about 3.705% APY.

Committee members asked whether personnel spending was on track year-to-date; Patel replied expenditures are in line with expectations for this point in the fiscal year. The presenter closed the report and the committee transitioned to the 2026 budget discussion.

Patel concluded the monthly report with a reminder that the charts and a breakdown of term investments and maturities were included in the packet, and that the presentation covered activity through Sept. 30, 2025.

Ending: The committee acknowledged the report with no formal action recorded; members and staff moved on to the 2026 budget presentation.