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Finance director reports $28.3M cash across funds, urges two-month reserve policy; committee considers salt budget modification
Summary
Director Barb Leanti reported an ending cash balance of $28.3 million across funds, advised a two-month reserve policy with a $3.5 million target, and presented a budget modification request to cover additional salt and snow removal costs; the committee asked for more research and had no recorded roll-call votes in the transcript.
Director Barb Leanti presented the Finance Department’s cash and budget highlights for the year ended Feb. 28, 2026, reporting an ending cash balance across all funds of $28,310,586 and $4,486,343 unrestricted for operations.
Leanti said accounts receivable totaled about $860,396, with $434,284 in collections with Portnoff for sewer and $257,313 in collections with Portnoff for prior real estate taxes. She reported that West Chester University paid $16,485 as its share of the 2025 ambulance contract, which she showed as an offset on the budget-to-actual report.
Turning to expenditures, Leanti noted an overspend on public works overtime and prior snow- and salt-related expenses. She detailed a prior budget modification of approximately $173,890 for snow and salt and an additional request on the night’s agenda for $51,077 for salt and snow removal, bringing storm-related spending to $224,886 through February.
On reserves, Leanti recommended adopting a formal reserve policy and suggested two months of cash on hand as an acceptable target. "If it was the world according to me, the magic number that we would set aside ... would be $3.5 million," she said. Leanti said current general fund cash reserves stood at about $2.8 million and, after prior and current storm-related requests, were down to an estimated $2.5 million; she said approximately $924,890 would be needed to return to the proposed $3.5 million target by year end.
The committee reviewed a motion to approve budget modification 26-2 to pay for additional salt purchases and related invoices; the transcript records the motion and discussion of funding from the general fund fleet reserve but does not include a roll-call vote or recorded outcome.
Separately, the committee moved a slate of procurement requests (landscaping, SPCA support, parking system fees, phosphorus removal contracts, chemical equipment and mowing/plowing invoices) with amounts presented; no explicit roll-call votes or outcomes appeared in the transcript.
