CFO: Davenport’s revenues generally tracking to budget; sewer digester project funded from cash

CFO Basha Gerlach presented Davenport’s first monthly finance update on Jan. 8, outlining revenues, expenses, and major capital items as of Dec. 31, 2025.

Gerlach said property taxes are the city’s largest revenue source, noting a fiscal‑year 2026 budget of about $98,000,000 and year‑to‑date collections of roughly $51,500,000. She told the council the city is about $313,000 shy of its projection for that line but described the shortfall as “essentially insignificant” because of the size of the line.

Local option sales tax has outperformed the adopted budget: Gerlach reported $9,600,000 collected in the first five months and a projected annual total of about $23,000,000. Road‑use tax and interest income are also beating budget expectations; Gerlach said higher interest rates drove interest revenue to about $4,800,000 year to date versus a $2,000,000 annual budget.

On enterprise funds, she said the sewer fund is performing well and the city can fund a $27,000,000 digester project without borrowing, using cash reserves. Other enterprise funds show timing deficits: parking (~$50,000) and transit (about $730,000) reflect billing and grant‑timing differences, not necessarily structural shortfalls.

Gerlach also provided an ARPA update: the city received about $40,900,000 in federal ARPA funds, obligated those funds by December 2024 as required, and has approximately $4,200,000 unspent; the largest ongoing ARPA expenditures cited were the Dupreeksure extension (~$2,600,000) and a multimodal path (~$900,000).

Council members asked clarifying questions and thanked staff for the transparency. City Administrator Tim Gleeson and others noted the finance updates are intended to be recurring and available on the city website.