Loveland finance commission approves Q4 update, flags water and sanitation shortfalls

The Loveland Finance Commission unanimously approved its fourth-quarter financial results after staff reported 2025 revenue gains driven largely by the new fire station project and a $3 million U.S. Department of Agriculture payment.

Mark, a finance staff member, told the commission that the general fund finished about $500,000 higher than it started the year and that "the city received $7 million for the first time in its history," a milestone the commission welcomed. He also said special-project investment returns were within roughly 0.8% of the estimate and that the commission's estimate for investment income in 2025 was close to realized results (estimate $450,000; actual $446,000).

Why it matters: commissioners said several enterprise funds are not keeping pace with inflation and need attention to avoid structural shortfalls. Mark reported water operations revenue rose about 0.3% year over year and said sanitation and environment funds face timing and pass-through constraints that could leave those funds pressured by rising costs.

Commissioners flagged three items for follow-up. First, one commissioner urged staff to prepare detailed projections and rate-change options for the water and sanitation funds and to assess administrative cost recovery from enterprise funds; the commission asked staff to try to have that work ready for the next finance commission meeting in April. Second, the commission noted a $245,000 certificate of deposit scheduled to mature in April and discussed options for redeploying short-term cash into higher-yield instruments such as Star Ohio. Mark noted Star Ohio yields fell from about 4.7% in December 2024 to roughly 3.96% in December 2025.

Third, members discussed the city's contract with the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), which requires the city to pass through MSD rates to customers. A commissioner summarized the legal history, saying the city's effort to exit the contract previously reached the U.S. Supreme Court and that MSD remains subject to a changing consent decree; commissioners urged continued monitoring and suggested council and city attorneys evaluate further actions if the consent-decree changes materially affect local charges.

On other details, Mark said about $50,000 in Raymond James is an annuity reserved specifically for exterior maintenance of the White Pillars property and is not available for general investment. He also confirmed that a corrected income-tax memo was circulated and that a small number of legacy memo checks (one flagged item, check 096014) represented state municipal tax fees withheld by Ohio.

The commission voted to approve the quarterly report and recorded unanimous roll-call affirmative votes. Staff agreed to prepare projections and any rate-change analyses requested by commissioners and to return with those items at or before the April meeting.