Finance Committee: Revenues slightly up, expenditures track budget in first five months

Comptroller Pat Burns told the Springfield City Finance Committee that through the first five months of fiscal 2026 the city's revenue collections total $454,600,000, about 45% of the budget, compared with $421,000,000 (44%) at the same point last fiscal year. "As you can see on the report, our revenue is at 454,600,000.0 or 45% of budget," Burns said.

Burns said expenditures through the same five-month period are $488,000,000, or 48% of budget, compared with $452,100,000 (47%) at this point last year. He noted that both revenues and expenses are running at slightly higher percentages than last year, and pointed out two items affecting the year-over-year comparison: a larger school spending carryover and an annual police education incentive payment.

"A big part of it is some of the net school spending carryover on the school side increased from 19,000,000 in fiscal year 2025 to 32,000,000 in '26," Burns said, adding that the police department's annual education incentive paid in November increased this year compared with last and appears in the public-safety expenditure lines. Burns identified the education incentive this year as $3,144,000 compared with $3,085,000 the prior year, an increase of $58,656.

Committee members asked about the drivers of the small revenue uptick and the scope of the education incentive payment. Burns described the revenue increase as modest and largely driven by the school-side carryover rather than a broad change in collections. Members did not request any immediate budget adjustments; Burns said comparative detail by department is included in the report if committee members want a deeper review.

The committee did not take separate formal action on this item; the meeting concluded with a motion accepting the agenda items as presented.