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Roanoke reports mixed September revenue: real-estate up, sales tax down; council adopts school grant appropriation
Summary
Deputy Finance Director Aquaneta Harris told council that in the first quarter real-estate tax revenue is 4% higher and personal-property receipts are about $500,000 above last year, while sales tax is down about 7%; council adopted a budget ordinance appropriating school grants for FY26.
Roanoke — In a FY26 financial briefing on Nov. 3, Deputy Director of Finance Aquaneta Harris told the Roanoke City Council that local real-estate tax revenue is 4% higher compared with the prior year and personal-property receipts are roughly $500,000 higher year to date, while sales tax collections show a 7% drop (noting a two-month reporting lag).
Harris highlighted a timing difference in grants: FY26 grants-from-commonwealth actuals stand at $16 million compared with $6 million in FY25, which she attributed to one-time timing related to street maintenance and social-service items. A new slide on prepared food and beverage base sales showed a $1.6 million increase in July 2025 versus July 2024 and a 1.3% year-over-year increase for August.
On expenditures, Harris said the three-month target for the fiscal year is 25% and that current spending levels are in line with expectations for the first quarter. She flagged continued attention to temporary and overtime wages and said staff will continue monitoring departmental budgets.
Council members asked follow-up questions about deferred-maintenance spending derived from the food-and-beverage tax; Harris and staff said elevator repairs are underway with vendor estimates pending and that only two elevator companies serve the area which can delay scheduling. Harris also reported increased delinquent collections for personal-property and business-license accounts.
Separately, the council considered a request from the Roanoke City School Board to appropriate federal, commonwealth and private grant funds for educational programs. Vice Mayor Stephen Terry McGuire and Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez Jones each read personal-interest statements and refrained from participating in that item because they are employees of Roanoke City Public Schools; the council then adopted a budget ordinance to appropriate the grants and amend FY25–26 school grant fund appropriations.
Next steps: Staff will return monthly updates; the city manager will respond to public referrals as appropriate.
