Overview
Auburn adopted a citywide FY 2025-26 final budget of $37,105,709 on June 23, 2025. First-quarter adjustments approved September 22, 2025 raised it to $38,645,406 to incorporate updated projections and planned use of estimated FY 2024-25 year-end carryover. Second-quarter adjustments in the February 23, 2026 mid-year update reduced it by $183,592 to $38,461,814. Sales tax is the General Fund's primary revenue source at 45% of total FY 2025-26 ongoing revenues; the FY 2025-26 sales tax budget is estimated at $7.8 million, a 1.6% year-over-year increase over the FY 2024-25 final of $7.6 million (down from a $9.2 million high in FY 2021-22), though the city's consultant warned in December 2025 that the 1.6% increase might not materialize.
Source: Auburn City Council staff report, FY 2025-26 Mid-Year (Q2) Financial Update, February 23, 2026.
At a glance — FY 2025-26
General Fund — mid-year picture
The mid-year General Fund budget is presented in the staff report as balanced with: total revenue, total expenditure, an excess of expenditures over revenues, carryover fund balance, and a remaining fund balance. As printed in the report's own walk, carryover $854,112 minus the stated excess of $491,777 equals the remaining balance $362,335 — internally exact.
Disclosed discrepancy — not resolved: the revenue and expenditure figures as extracted read $20,431,288 and $21,923,065, which differ by $1,491,777, not by the report's stated $491,777 — exactly $1,000,000 more. The figure implied by the report's own gap is revenue of $21,431,288 ($21,923,065 − $491,777). This page reports the stated gap and the exact carryover walk, and flags the $1,000,000 extraction difference rather than substituting the implied figure.
General Fund reserves in the adopted budget sum exactly: Economic Contingencies $3,113,276 (at least 40% of estimated sales tax) + Capital Reserve $500,000 + Employee Unfunded Liabilities $500,000 + NCCSIF Insurance Pool $700,000 + Unassigned $95,307 = $4,908,583. Staff recommended maintaining these reserve amounts for the duration of FY 2025-26. The report cautions that the projected $362,000 remaining balance "leaves a narrow margin for unanticipated expenditures."
Carryover reconciliation, as reported: the audited General Fund balance was $854,000 (reported), plus $543,000 in grant revenues that missed the 60-day accrual period and $234,000 in prior-year revenues flagged for an unlikely future expense, for an applicable $1.6 million in estimated carryover ($854,000 + $543,000 + $234,000 = $1,631,000, described in the report as approximately $1.6 million). Q1 adjustments used $730,000 of it; the Q2 update estimates use of $1.2 million of the $1.6 million, leaving about $362,000.
Quarterly adjustments — sum-checked
Q1 General Fund expenditure adjustments total $730,267 as printed, and the itemized lines sum exactly: Non-Departmental unfunded pension liability payment $127,579; HdL TOT administration fees $10,000; Economic Development wayfinding signage $30,000; Planning Auburn-Bowman Sewer Interconnection Study change order $40,000; Fire building improvements carryover $44,059; Building online permitting credit-card fees $10,000; Building Maintenance City Hall driveway repair $50,000; Building Maintenance solar projects for Police & Fire Station 2 $412,513; Public Works Admin Jacobs Lane survey $6,116. Sum: $730,267.
Q2 revenue adjustments sum exactly to the printed total of +$129,385: property & TOT taxes and DMV VLF fees +$197,765; franchise fees −$169,151; business license & tobacco retailer fees +$35,726; planning, building & fire permits & fees +$92,050; police supplemental law enforcement & event reimbursements +$94,000; entertainment zones & wayfinding +$12,124; one-time grant revenues net −$6,306; EV charging & surplused asset +$21,225; miscellaneous donations & rebates +$16,243; cost allocation policy implementation (revenue side) −$164,291.
Q2 expenditure adjustments are printed as a decrease of $115,141; the itemized lines sum to −$115,142 (ClearGov personnel updates −$19,055; employee payouts +$220,701; capital repairs and vehicle insurance +$283,649; cost allocation implementation −$410,111; contract & professional services +$1,200; reallocations −$24,174; operational reductions −$43,038; updated operational projections −$124,314) — a $1 difference, disclosed as rounding or extraction, not smoothed.
Other funds, Q2: Airport expenditures +$354,122 and revenues +$341,998 (Taxiway A Rehabilitation, Wildlife Hazard Assessment, PAPI lighting); Sewer expenditures +$558,178 and revenues +$147,200 (Auburn-Bowman flow monitoring, emergency repairs, capital-project technical adjustment, interest earnings); Transit expenditures −$203,089 and revenues −$37,500 (cost-allocation restriction, which also eliminated the Transit Fund deficit).
Sources & notes
- Only source used: Auburn City Council staff report, FY 2025-26 Mid-Year (Q2) Financial Update, February 23, 2026 (Granicus). Read the staff report.
- Sum checks: citywide $37,105,709 → $38,645,406 (Q1, +$1,539,697) → $38,461,814 (Q2, −$183,592); GF reserves sum to $4,908,583; Q1 GF adjustments sum to $730,267; Q2 revenue adjustments sum to +$129,385; carryover walk $854,112 − $491,777 = $362,335.
- Disclosed, not smoothed: (1) the $1,000,000 General Fund revenue/gap extraction discrepancy (see General Fund section); (2) the $1 Q2 expenditure-adjustment difference; (3) the standalone adopted budget book was not separately retrieved; (4) the $1.6M carryover is the report's rounded description of $854,000 + $543,000 + $234,000 = $1,631,000.
- Fiscal-year label: FY 2025-26 (July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026); adopted June 23, 2025; mid-year update February 23, 2026. This is Auburn, California (Placer County seat), not Auburn, Alabama.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified City of Auburn palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a city color.