HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson City Finance Director Angela Richard updated the city council on Tuesday as to the general fund balance for the end of 2024 and how things look going into next year.

"When we approved the 2025 budget, at the end of 2024, we had projected to have a general fund balance of $5.5 million," Richard said. "I am projecting to have a general fund balance of $7.5 to 8 million, pending something doesn't come up that I haven't forecasted. If these trends project into 2025 and our spending aligns and our revenue stays about the same, we'll end 2025 with between $4.5 and 5 million. So the GFOA recommendations and the general fund balance that we had approved, we should probably be between $7 and 7.5 million. We'll end 2024 with about where we should be, but then at the end of 2025, we'll start having to look at what we should do to restore that general fund balance, but it is a lot better than the $913,000 we had projected at the end of 2025 in our budget."

The council praised Richard for her good work in keeping the city solvent to this point.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733312174723.jpeg" alt="Hutchinson City Finance Director Angela Richard speaks to the Hutchinson City Council at their meeting December 3, 2024. Image courtesy City of Hutchinson." />
 <figcaption>Hutchinson City Finance Director Angela Richard speaks to the Hutchinson City Council at their meeting December 3, 2024. Image courtesy City of Hutchinson.</figcaption>
 </figure>NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson City Finance Director Angela Richard updated the city council on Tuesday as to the general fund balance for the end of 2024 and how things look going into next year."When we approved the 2025 budget, at the end of 2024, we had projected to have a general fund balance of $5.5 million," Richard said. "I am projecting to have a general fund balance of $7.5 to 8 million, pending something doesn't come up that I haven't forecasted. If these trends project into 2025 and our spending aligns and our revenue stays about the same, we'll end 2025 with between $4.5 and 5 million. So the GFOA recommendations and the general fund balance that we had approved, we should probably be between $7 and 7.5 million. We'll end 2024 with about where we should be, but then at the end of 2025, we'll start having to look at what we should do to restore that general fund balance, but it is a lot better than the $913,000 we had projected at the end of 2025 in our budget."The council praised Richard for her good work in keeping the city solvent to this point.

City's fiscal health better than anticipated