Lubbock council accepts FY2025 comprehensive financial report after clean audit; reserves, enterprise funds strong

The Lubbock City Council unanimously approved a resolution accepting the City of Lubbock's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025. The independent auditors from Weaver issued an unmodified (clean) opinion and reported no audit adjustments, findings or suspected fraud.

"We did issue an unmodified opinion," Weaver engagement partner Jennifer Ripka told the council during the presentation, calling it the highest level of assurance auditors can give on a set of financial statements. Ripka said Weaver also performed compliance testing for federal and state financial assistance and identified no findings.

City Chief Financial Officer Joe Jimenez highlighted the key numbers and explained how the audit and budget differ. He said the city collected about $100.5 million in sales-tax receipts for the fiscal year, while property-tax revenue was about $88.3 million. Jimenez told the council that the city intentionally drew $12.5 million from excess reserves to fund one-time capital projects and that, after that drawdown, the general fund finished roughly $1.5 million under budget for the year.

Jimenez pointed to $83.5 million in available "excess reserves" above the city's 20% policy level for the general fund, noting the council typically uses those funds for one-time expenditures such as capital projects rather than recurring expenses. He also said the city increased cash-funded street maintenance spending by about $1 million last year.

Enterprise funds showed strong positions, Jimenez said: water and wastewater activity reported roughly $191.1 million on the books and about $149.1 million in expenses, figures that include capital assets recorded for system expansions. The airport and stormwater funds also finished the year with significant reserves, and Jimenez said those funds help stabilize future rate changes and prepare for anticipated projects.

The report also noted improved pension funding ratios. Jimenez said the Lubbock Fire pension and TMRS both saw higher funding ratios for the fiscal year, driven in part by investment returns above assumed rates.

Council members asked for supplemental figures (for example, the precise general-fund debt service totals for the prior year), and Jimenez said staff would provide those details to each council member. With no further discussion, the council approved the resolution accepting the report.

The council vote formally ends the city's audit cycle for FY2025 and allows staff to proceed with budget planning informed by the auditor's findings and the financial metrics reported to the council.