Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the City Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Waco posts $4.2M sales‑tax boost; staff defends reserve use for capital
Summary
An unaudited FY25 fourth-quarter report showed general fund revenues beat budget by about $4.2M driven by sales taxes and investment earnings; staff said they used excess fund balances and reserves for strategic capital and safety investments while keeping reserves above policy minimums.
Colin Booth, the city's managing director of finance, presented the unaudited fourth‑quarter financial report covering FY25 (Oct. 1–Sept. 30) at the Nov. 18 Waco City Council work session and described a year in which revenue outperformed some expectations while staff intentionally drew down excess fund balances to cover capital projects.
Booth told council general fund revenues finished roughly $4.2 million over budget — primarily from higher sales taxes and investment earnings — while expenditures were about $677,000 under budget, producing a net favorable variance of approximately $3.5 million.
"You'll see in many of these funds that we have, strategically and deliberately used reserves or excess fund balance over and above our 27 and a half percent minimums," Booth said, adding the drawdowns funded essential capital projects such as street maintenance, bridge repairs, water and wastewater projects, and replacement of fire SCBA equipment. (Colin Booth, Managing Director of Finance)
Key fund takeaways: Booth said property tax collections trailed budget by about $728,000 primarily because of lawsuits and protests over appraised values. The water fund experienced a negative variance of about $3.1 million due to a cooler, wetter summer that reduced metered water sales; wastewater performed slightly ahead of budget. The solid waste fund showed a negative variance driven by delayed opening of a transfer station and landfill timing.
Booth emphasized that encumbrances (purchase orders and committed amounts) will roll to the next fiscal year for capital projects and that projected unassigned general fund balance remains above the council's minimum policy by about $6.5 million.
On investments, Booth reported a year‑end par portfolio value near $927.7 million and net interest income for the quarter of about $9.96 million, with an approximate yield to maturity of 4.11%.
Council members asked for more granular tracking over time and requested historical spreadsheets or Gantt charts that show the status of projects the council approved in prior years; Booth agreed to provide that detail. Booth also said the final audited numbers will be presented to the council in February after year‑end closing and the auditors' review.
No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational and will be followed by the city audit and more detailed monthly management reports in FY26.
