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Lynn Haven finance staff says city is solvent but rebuild leaves $7.4 million local share
Summary
At a July budget workshop, Lynn Haven finance staff said the city is meeting obligations and has roughly $17.9 million in unassigned general fund cash, but the rebuilt city hall's funding gap leaves about $7.44 million ultimately to be covered locally after FEMA and insurance, and the city must budget roughly $2.8 million a year for disaster-bond debt service through 2033.
At a budget workshop July 18, Lynn Haven finance staff told commissioners the city is solvent and meeting payroll and accounts payable, but that the rebuilt city hall and outstanding disaster-recovery obligations will create multi-year debt-service demands. "We are solvent. We are meeting all of our financial obligations," Finance Presenter Kiki Roman said during her presentation.
Roman said a snapshot of cash on hand includes roughly $17,900,000 in unassigned general-fund cash as of the end of fiscal 2024, while the city also holds restricted balances in enterprise funds. She warned that a single cash balance is only one piece of the picture: "That document gives you at the end of the fiscal year... the unassigned fund balance" and is the best single-number indicator of flexible funds, she said.
On the city hall rebuild, Roman reported that the city has written checks totaling $17,562,770 and has about $451,519 in open purchase orders, bringing the current project total to $18,014,289. She said FEMA and insurance funding for that building combine to about $10,500,005.71 based on Tetra Tech and FEMA project numbers, leaving the city portion at approximately $7,443,000 to be covered out of local funds or debt.
Roman described the disaster recovery fund (Fund 101) as a working account tied to Hurricane Michael reimbursements and project inflows that remain under negotiation with FEMA and consultant Tetra Tech. She cited an accounts-receivable estimate of about $5,835,000 from FEMA records but cautioned, "These are living documents ... I am only giving you progress reports. These are not final reports. Hurricane Michael ... accounting side of it will probably go on for 2 or 3 more years before it's finalized with [the federal government]."
Commissioners pressed on near-term cash needs. Roman said the city made a debt-service payment on July 25 that drew from the disaster bond account and that, beginning in fiscal 2026, payments for the 2019 disaster-recovery bond will be paid from the general fund at about $2.8 million per year until the bond matures in 2033. "I am budgeting $2,800,000 in the general fund for the debt service of the 2019 bond," she said.
Staff noted Fund 101 projections show the fund moving negative in future years without additional reimbursements; Roman said the city would not transfer from the general fund immediately, explaining there is a reimbursement in the pipeline that might cover shortfalls in the near term. Commissioners asked staff to provide simplified, easier-to-find monthly or quarterly debt-service and cash-balance reports on the city website so residents can track changes.
On outstanding contractor and closeout questions, Roman said the most recent Culpeper pay application showed $315,659.98 due (a May 28 pay app) and that four change orders remained unaccounted for in the project math. She also described liquidated-damages language in the contract but said recoveries depend on documented losses and negotiations with Culpeper.
The workshop closed without a formal vote; staff will return to the commission with more-detailed budget pages, proposed purchasing-policy revisions and audit scope options at upcoming meetings. The session ended early when staff reported a building pipe rupture and recessed the meeting.
