Finance director: Georgetown ended FY25 with $31.9M; net-profits and insurance taxes exceeded budget

City finance staff told the council on Nov. 24 that Georgetown ended fiscal year 2025 with a stronger-than-expected reserve position and that several one-time revenue items drove the increase.

Stacy, the finance director, said the beginning general-fund reserve on July 1, 2024, was about $25.1 million and the ending balance as of June 30, 2025, is approximately $31.9 million — an increase of roughly $6.8 million. She attributed the bulk of the increase to net-profits revenue, which she said exceeded the budgeted $3.25 million and came in at about $11.3 million due to amended returns and companies using previously held tax credits.

Stacy also noted insurance premium taxes were above budget and discussed accounting treatment for noncash items such as leased equipment and subscription-based IT agreements (SPIDA). She said the city will change how it budgets for those noncash items in FY26 to avoid misleading appearances of expenditures exceeding budgets.

On ARPA funds, Stacy said the city received $9,219,845 and had committed most ARPA allocations; only two items remained outstanding, including final payment for custom fire engines expected in 2026. The finance director cautioned that net-profits results can be irregular and should not be treated as recurring revenue when setting baseline budgets.

Council members asked for clarifications about deferred tax credits, interlocal ambulance charges and the software tools used for projections; Stacy named the VIP analytics platform and accounting software used for reporting.