City finance director reports midyear budget in line; key revenues and timings flagged

Director Tina Campbell delivered Lancaster’s 2025 midyear financial report to the finance committee on Aug. 11, saying the city is generally on track as it passes the halfway point of the fiscal year.

"Our combined expenses equal slightly over 157,000,000 for the year," Campbell said, and noted that across all funds the city had received about 51% of budgeted revenue and spent about 39–40% of budgeted expenses as of June 30. Campbell said the general fund revenue budget is about $79,000,000 and that many large receipts — real estate tax payments, franchise fees and pension-state funds — arrive in lumpy, end-of-year payments that affect timing comparisons.

On the revenue side, Campbell told the committee that real estate tax collections were running slightly below projections (about 1.6%), a shortfall she said amounts to roughly $520,000 and is being monitored. She also said earned-income-tax receipts were tracking close to expectations and that some revenue lines will be boosted later in the year when franchise and pension-state payments are received.

Councilors queried the parking-violation and franchise-fee lines. Larry Cohen, executive director of the Parking Authority, explained the contract structure for enforcement and revenue sharing: the authority receives a 10% management fee and "the city gets 90% of violation revenue after expenses and the 10% management fee." Campbell added that staffing vacancies are producing much of the current savings but said those vacancies are not being held permanently and are part of the normal ebb and flow of hiring.

Campbell closed by cautioning that certain lines will increase later in the year — overtime for public safety in the third quarter and large debt payments due in November — and said she will continue to monitor trends and provide monthly and quarterly reports to council.