City of Alexandria, Virginia
________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE: DECEMBER 6, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of the Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending October 31, 2017.
BODY
_________________________________________________________________
ISSUE: Receipt of the Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending October 31, 2017.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council receive the Monthly Financial Report (Attachments 1 and 2).
BACKGROUND: The following discussion is a summary of the Monthly Financial Report for this period. Schedules comparing revenues and expenditures to date to the same period in
FY 2016 are attached.
At this time in FY 2017, the City’s revenue and expenditures are not noticeably different than the same time period last year. As of October 31, 2017, General Fund revenues totaled $125.1 million, a decrease of $3.1 million or 2.4% less than the revenues collected at the same time in FY 2016. Through the first four months, approximately 17.2 percent of budgeted revenues have been collected. Revenues may not track consistently with calendar since many revenue sources have dues dates that do not occur evenly through the year. Large revenue sources, such as real estate and personal property tax revenues are remitted twice per year and once per year, respectively. Personal Property taxes were due on October 5th and collections through October exceed last year’s collections by $1 million or 2.5 percent. Real Property taxes were due on November 15th. Collections in October are sporadic and often large transactions from mortgage companies. Any variance in October for Real Property tax revenue is due to timing. Other local taxes are showing positive growth compared to FY 2017. Through October 2017, Other Local Tax revenues equal $23.5 million compared to $21.3 million in October 2016. Recordation tax revenue exceeds last year by $0.8 million due to the August sale of the JBG Beauregard Corridor residential/retail portfolio to Morgan Properties for $509 million. Both Transient Lodging and Restaurant Meals tax revenues reflect higher sales in FY 2018 than from the same period in
FY 2017.
As of October 31, 2017, General Fund expenditures totaled $204.8 million, an increase of $14.8 million over the same time period for FY 2017. Similar to the situation with revenues, no significant expenditure has occurred in the first four months of Fiscal Year 2018 that is unbudgeted or unexpected. Agencies that are trending above the percent completed of the fiscal year (33 percent) are those organizations that receive quarterly payments from the City (e.g., Economic Development Activities, Health/Other Health, and Transit Subsidies). These agencies have received two of their quarterly payments at this point in the fiscal year. Debt service is paid in June, July, December and January. The amounts are determined by the structure of the debt and the payments are made as scheduled. The amount paid each year and when it is paid varies each year based on debt issuance date and debt structure. As a result, it does not track closely to the percent of the fiscal year. The Departments of Human Resources and Information Technology Services are also both trending slightly ahead of the fiscal year, due to services that are billed annually (various maintenance agreements, Microsoft Licenses, Pryor Online Learning Access for employees).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - Comparative Revenue Schedule for October 31, 2017
Attachment 2 - Comparative Expenditure Schedule for October 31, 2017
Attachment 3 - First quarter economic indicators related to real estate and new construction
STAFF:
Laura Triggs, Deputy City Manager
Kendel Taylor, Director, Finance Department
Morgan Routt, Director, OMB