Every number behind the budget story

General Fund spending by department, FY2014–FY2025. FY2025 actual was $424.0M up from $183.2M in FY2014 — figures are nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation or population growth.

Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (audited actuals) and the adopted/proposed budget for years without an audit yet.

FY2024 actual spending came in $6.6M (2.4%) below the adopted budget, and $6.0M below the final amended budget (the version council approved mid-year, after adjustments). Department-level variance below, largest first.

Source: FY2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, budgetary comparison schedule.

Not enough data on file yet for this section.

The General Fund closed FY2024 with $22.5M in total fund balance. Reserves stood at 0.5 months of spending — a “red” level, though the trend has been declining. Unassigned balance — money with no earmark — is shown separately below; most of what's held is often assigned to specific future uses, not freely available.

Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports, governmental funds balance sheet.

The tread water threshold is the minimum annual contribution that keeps the unfunded pension liability from growing — normal cost plus interest on the existing shortfall. Paying below it means the liability grows even while payments are being made. In None of the last 0 years, contributions to the Miscellaneous plan fell short of tread water; the Safety plan fell short in None of 0 years. Combined net pension liability reached — as of FYNone.

Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports, net pension liability by plan.

Structural balance measures whether recurring revenues cover recurring expenditures — set aside one-time items like asset sales, capital spending, or inter-fund transfers. A surplus means ongoing operations are self-sustaining; a deficit means the city is using one-time money to fund ongoing services. FY2024 closed with a structural deficit of $15.0M (3.8% of recurring revenue). 9 of the last 11 years closed with a structural deficit.

Recurring revenue minus recurring expenditure, FY2014–FY2024

A structural surplus can coexist with a falling fund balance — that happens when the balance decline comes from inter-fund transfers (a financing decision) rather than weaker operations. Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports.

Net position is the government-wide equivalent of net worth — total assets minus total liabilities, including long-term obligations like pensions, OPEB, and bonded debt that don't appear in the General Fund figures above. Total net position was -$762.2M at the end of FY2023, down $34.3M for the year. Of that total, unrestricted position was a deficit of $1103.1M — a common condition for cities carrying significant pension liabilities when negative.

Government-wide figures use full accrual accounting (GASB 34) and differ from the General Fund fund-balance figures above, which use modified accrual accounting and exclude long-term liabilities. Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports, statement of net position.

Coefficient of variation (CoV) measures year-to-year swings as a share of the average — higher means less predictable, and a volatile source needs bigger reserves to absorb a down year. The bigger risk sits in Real estate and personal property taxes, net of tax refunds: it grew from $183.5M to $246.7M over this window — a large, now-load-bearing revenue source worth watching.

Volatility ranking

1. Investment incomeCoV 95%
2. Tax liens and foreclosuresCoV 75%
3. Urban development corporation taxCoV 71%
4. Intergovernmental - otherCoV 49%
5. Fees and rentalsCoV 37%
6. Intergovernmental - School Building AuthorityCoV 37%
7. Departmental and otherCoV 32%
8. Penalties and interest on taxesCoV 31%
9. Fines and forfeituresCoV 28%
10. Licenses and permitsCoV 24%
11. Tax liensCoV 23%
12. Urban redevelopment corporations taxCoV 15%
13. Real estate and personal property taxes, net of tax refundsCoV 10%
14. Meals taxCoV 8%
15. Motor vehicle and other excise taxesCoV 7%
16. Payments in lieu of taxesCoV 4%
17. IntergovernmentalCoV 3%
18. Intergovernmental - state aidCoV 2%

CoV computed across all years on file. Transfers excluded — they’re financing activity, not operating revenue. Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports, governmental funds revenue detail.

Not enough data on file yet for this section.

The city carries $1139.2M in net book value of capital assets — infrastructure, buildings, land, and equipment, net of depreciation — as of FY2024.

Source: Annual Comprehensive Financial Report capital asset schedules; adopted Capital Improvement Program.

Seven fiscal-health indicators based on the Strong Towns Finance Decoder methodology, computed from government-wide (governmental activities) data in the ACFRs. The composite read for FY2024 is red, with a declining multi-year trend on net financial position — it peaked at -$260.9M in FY2014.

Net financial position, FY2014–FY2024

Based on the Strong Towns Finance Decoder. Source data is governmental activities only. Some years pending ACFR backfill.