The council received the city’s unaudited annual financial report for fiscal year 2024–25 and opened an annual public hearing to collect comments on unmet transit needs in Humboldt County before closing the hearing and directing staff to forward local comments to the county association.

Finance Director (speaker 8) told the council the report was prepared with unaudited figures as of June 30, 2025, and that the official audit is expected in early 2026. The director said overall city expenses slightly exceeded revenues by about $104,000, driven largely by a roughly $725,000 reduction in special revenue funds tied to required drawdowns of CDBG program income and ARPA funds. The city’s consolidated fund balances were reported at about $9.7 million at the fiscal year end. The director flagged that several large capital projects originally budgeted for FY24–25—most notably a water infrastructure improvement project described as "$12-plus million"—were delayed and will shift revenues and expenditures into the current fiscal year.

The presentation covered fund-level variances: general fund expenditures were lower than budgeted (partly due to unfilled police department positions), sewer enterprise revenues exceeded budget by about 12% while expenditures were 10% below budget, and the water enterprise fund reported revenues above budget (the presenter attributed this to Cal OES funds for earthquake-related projects) with lower operating costs tied to salary savings. The report also noted the city earned interest income across funds and invested excess liquidity in the local agency investment fund.

Earlier in the meeting the City Manager (speaker 2) had reported receiving a 14-day notice from a local school district proposing developer fees related to new development; staff said they will gather further information and send updates to council when available. The City Manager also said the city had submitted information to the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) for eligibility in zero-emission vehicle funding.

For the HCAOG-required unmet transit needs hearing (a TDA process), Steve/Stevie Luther of HCAOG joined by Zoom, described HCAOG’s public comment options (online survey at hcaog.net and phone) and the timeline for committee review. No public commenters offered unmet transit needs at the meeting; council closed the hearing and directed staff to send a summary letter of any comments to HCAOG. The presenter noted HCAOG will discuss comments received by Dec. 31 and report findings to its board in 2026.

Votes at the meeting included approval of the consent calendar (motion carried 4-0) and formal direction to send the council’s transit comments to HCAOG (action recorded in minutes). The financial report used unaudited figures; the city expects the final audited report in early 2026.