Finance committee reviews Abbeville's annual financial report; staff cites modest sales-tax gain and rebuilt reserves

The Abbeville Finance Committee met March 3, 2026, to review the city's annual financial analysis for the 12-month period ending December 2025. Staff presenting the report said sales-tax collections showed a modest year-over-year gain and most revenue streams were essentially flat.

"Sales tax revenues for the year came in at 6.28 28 billion. Uh that's an increase of 160,000," said Steve, the staff member who presented the analysis, summarizing the committee's figures and noting the presentation reflected the amended budget adopted in December. He told council members the increase represented about a 2.5% rise from 2024 to 2025 and invited them to view details on the meeting monitor.

Steve also outlined department and utility figures: water revenue was presented at about $2.1 million, sewer revenue at roughly $2.0 million and electric sales at about $3.8 million, with electric showing a year-over-year decline. He said total combined city payroll exceeded $7.1 million in 2025 versus $6.8 million the prior year, describing this as an increase under 5% and largely within the adopted budget.

"We had 27 payrolls for 2025 where we normally only show 26," Steve said, explaining that an extra payroll run because of holidays partly inflated annual totals. He added that the police department was not fully staffed in 2024 but was in 2025, which contributed to higher payroll costs.

An attendee who identified themself as mayor described the council's work to restore reserves after storms and prior draws. "We rebuilt our reserves back to where they were prior to me becoming mayor," the mayor said, adding that reserves had been drawn down in earlier years and were now approximately $1.5 million.

Committee members and staff emphasized that, despite inflationary pressures and recent increases in oil prices, the city remained within a 5% variance for expenditures and that the sales-tax uptick helped offset flat utility revenues. No formal motions or votes about budget changes were recorded in the provided transcript; the committee concluded the review with thanks to staff and no immediate follow-up actions specified.

The committee's presentation was described as part of the city's annual audit and the required submission process under state law. The report highlighted department-level spending increases (police up about $400,000 year over year) and a reduction in recreation spending; utility fund expenses were presented as roughly $5.2 million, about $65,000 higher than the prior year.