Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance director: Lancaster has nearly $10.4 million in unrestricted cash; hospitality tax posting lag noted
Summary
City finance staff reported that general-fund unrestricted cash stood at about $10,400,000 at the end of August and that the city ended the prior fiscal year with roughly $1.96 million in property-tax balances; hospitality (accommodations) tax receipts were delayed but expected to catch up. Transfer station revenue and purchases were discussed as contributing factors to temporary negative variances in special funds.
Mister Absher presented the city’s cash-management and finance report and told the council that overall finances look sound as the city moves into the second half of the fiscal year. "As of the end of August, we had almost $10,400,000 in unrestricted cash in the general fund," he said, adding that the amount is roughly $1.2 million more than the previous year.
Absher said the city ended the prior fiscal year with about $1,960,000 in property-tax balances and noted local-option sales-tax collections were better than anticipated, which improved final collections. He said gross water and sewer revenues are tracking projections for the year and overall expenses are in line with last year’s amounts.
On hospitality tax (ATAX) revenue, Absher said receipts were below last year due to an employee absence and a delay in posting payments but that the backlog was catching up and September should be closer to expectations. He also explained that solid-waste numbers looked negative in one line because the city purchased equipment (about $345,600) and that transfer-station revenue of about $148,497 for August would appear in next month’s reports because of billing timing.
Councilmembers thanked finance staff for transparency and said they would continue to monitor revenue timing, vacancy impacts on service lines and capital projects. Absher noted the city maintains reserves and a fund-balance policy to cover off-cycle revenue timing.
