Milton finance director reports midyear revenues above target for several funds; capital projects lagging

Finance director Roback presented the city's second-quarter (Q2) fund-by-fund report, citing key variances and causes across operating and capital funds.

"Starting with the general fund on page 35, revenues are trending above budgeted amounts at 54%," Roback said, noting that licenses and permits were below budget due to lower building-permit and plan-review fees while other categories were above expectations. He flagged capital improvement fund revenues at 21% and attributed that to intergovernmental revenues or grants expected but not yet received.

Roback ran through other fund highlights: the asset replacement fund at 55% driven by interest; the street fund with revenues at 53% and expenditures at 55%; electric utility revenues at 58% with higher administration costs due to annual insurance payments; and parks impact fees at 206% with no current expenditures budgeted for the year. Roback also identified the largest expenditures to date in the capital improvement fund as the city hall retrofit and citywide parks improvements.

Council members asked clarifying questions about prior staffing (engineer and project manager) and whether the apparent surplus was reflected in the rainy day fund; Roback explained wage allocations are spread across many funds and that some budgeted wages remain in current-year amounts. On parks fees, Roback clarified that parks impact fees are restricted to capacity-adding projects or specific eligible uses and cannot be used for arbitrary improvements.

No council action was taken on the financial report; Roback said he would provide additional detail if council members wanted further breakdowns.