Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance director reports FY26 revenue uptick, larger-than-expected reserves and limited grocery-tax visibility
Summary
Finance Director Scott Rathman reported a favorable FY26 variance tied to home-rule and state sales taxes, projecting a $10.7 million year-end positive; he said reserves are approximately $39 million and that grocery-tax details remain partially unclear.
Finance Director Scott Rathman presented FY26 year-to-date budget variances and the FY27 outlook, telling the council that sales-tax receipts — particularly home-rule and state sales tax — contributed to an approximately $9.3 million favorable variance and a projected $10.7 million positive adjustment to year-end projections.
Rathman said the city built a projected revenue increase into FY27 based on legislative changes that forced more online retailers to remit local sales taxes. He reported the city ended FY25 with slightly more than $40 million in reserves and is projecting roughly $39 million now; using a 20% of revenue reserve target for a roughly $145 million general-fund budget equals about $30 million, which Rathman said leaves the city roughly $9 million above target. He noted some of the increase is related to timing and delayed initiatives pushed to FY27.
Council members asked whether the surge is a one-time legislative effect and pressed for clarity on how much of the increase was grocery tax; Rathman said grocery-tax receipts are now visible in Department of Revenue reporting only since April and estimated the grocery-tax portion at roughly $175,000–$180,000 in recent receipts but said he could not provide a precise breakdown during the meeting.
No changes were adopted at the meeting; council members asked staff to continue monitoring the revenue trend and to present updated data at future budget discussions.
