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Johns Creek staff presents balanced FY2025 budget and asks council for feedback
Summary
City staff called the proposed FY2025 budget balanced at about $78.0 million, outlined revenue assumptions including $70 million of new growth, and asked council for guidance on reserves, capital sequencing and operations ahead of a September adoption vote.
City staff presented the draft fiscal year 2025 budget and asked the Johns Creek City Council for feedback on revenue assumptions, operations and capital sequencing. Director Campbell told the council the proposal is “a balanced budget, $78,000,006.44,” and that staff identified roughly $26.7 million in additional funding sources.
The budget document uses a conservative $70 million assumption for new-growth revenue, a figure staff said excludes reassessments to avoid misaligning projections with practice. “70,000,000 is the assumption for 2025,” Director Campbell said, adding that reassessments can be considered later when the tax digest is finalized.
Council members pressed staff on several potential levers to increase projected revenue, including raising the growth assumption to 1.25% or 2% and refining interest-earning estimates. On investment strategy, staff said the city will deploy approximately $20 million from an approved investment account into securities guided by a three-year treasury benchmark and complete a transfer of local deposits to JPMorgan Chase within 30–60 days to “maximize the earnings potential” with a target APR around 4.39%.
The council and staff also discussed a nearly $1.9 million shortfall tied to LOST allocation modeling with Fulton County. Director Campbell said the county’s model projects a 4% increase but actuals have not matched that assumption, producing the current shortfall; staff expects the line to level next year but has not yet had direct conversations about Fulton County assumptions.
On the expenditure side, councilors reviewed operations questions including a $50,000 election prepayment, an increase in council travel and dues, and a combined $54,000 subscription line for CoStar and Placer AI that staff said can be broken out for clarity. Council members also asked staff to present a personnel breakout for six proposed positions and to show capital and enhancement personnel separately for greater transparency.
Councilors and staff debated capital priorities and sequencing, with emphasis on Cauley/Colly Creek projects, parking near Cauley Creek Courts and whether to add an economic development specialist. On vehicle replacement and accruals, staff said a stepped approach is needed to align accrual contributions with rising replacement costs and that the vehicle schedule would reach the updated replacement target within several years if current funding levels are sustained.
The council requested additional analysis and follow-up materials and scheduled further discussion in upcoming work sessions on Aug. 19 and Sept. 9. Staff said it would provide a revised budget book and a narrative recap in advance of the next meeting.
The work session produced no formal vote on the budget; staff will bring revisions and clarifying schedules back for future council consideration.
