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City treasurer flags mixed revenue trends, urges spending restraint ahead of budget
Summary
Treasurer Ocasio told the Lincoln City Council that while some revenue streams are up year-to-date, municipal sales tax receipts for a recent month were down and the city saw a reduction in video gaming tax proceeds after the state recouped prior overpayments; Ocasio suggested the council consider spending restraint ahead of the upcoming budget.
Treasurer Ocasio presented the city’s February 2026 financial report and described mixed revenue trends that will inform the upcoming budget process.
Ocasio told the council that year-over-year comparisons show variability across revenue streams. She noted municipal sales and use tax for the month of November (received in February) was $348,001.61, down from $421,033 in the same month a year earlier, while the calendar-year total for January through November is about $3,839,000. "You've all received copies of this report," Ocasio said. "If you look at the attachments ... we've received the December payment from the state, and so we were up a little bit there ... but we're down on some of the others."
Ocasio pointed out a roughly $6,000 increase in non-home-rule sales tax for the comparable month, and explained motor fuel tax receipts rose because the tax was increased in July — not because more gasoline was sold. She also described an adjustment to video gaming tax proceeds after the state identified a prior overpayment; she said the state reduced proceeds by $10,000 for one period and by $4,703.92 for another, and that without those deductions the monthly take would have been slightly higher than the prior year.
Ocasio recommended the council look for ways to improve fund balance, saying one approach is to spend less. "One of the ways we can do that is to spend less money," she said. The treasurer said the budget process will provide a fuller picture and that staff will return with more detail.
What to watch: The treasurer emphasized that timing and vouchering of state payments can affect month-to-month comparisons and that further detail will be provided in the budget process. The transcript does not include final budget decisions; Ocasio said the council will see more detail as the budget process proceeds.
Attribution: Direct quotes and figures are taken from Treasurer Ocasio’s remarks during the March 16 meeting.
