Fw: City of Topeka reserves: what the books show


From: Henry McClure <mcre13@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2026 10:48 AM
To: mcre13@gmail.com <mcre13@gmail.com>
Cc: banks4topeka@gmail.com <banks4topeka@gmail.com>
Subject: City of Topeka reserves: what the books show
 
David,

I pulled the City of Topeka's own books on reserves. Key numbers are highlighted.

>>> RESERVES (FY2024 audited ACFR, year ended 12/31/2024) <<<

*** General Fund unassigned balance: $37,845,202 ***
That's about 33% of General Fund spending, roughly 122 days of operations.
City policy (Resolution 9512): minimum 15%, target 20%. They're sitting at about double the minimum.

*** Total governmental fund balance: $156,808,095 *** (up from $144.3M the year before)

*** Debt Service Fund: $18,490,145 *** (about 83% of the fund's revenue; policy minimum is 10%)

*** Unassigned Reserve Fund (Fund 102): $13,843,107 ***

*** 1/2-cent street sales tax fund: $39.8M (2024), $43.7M (2025) ***
*** JEDO 1/2% sales tax fund: $21.1M (2024), $29.4M (2025) ***

Water/stormwater/wastewater utility: $173.2M in cash and investments, $26.4M unrestricted.

WHAT THE CITY WILL SAY BACK
- About $113M of the fund balance is restricted (infrastructure, debt, economic development).
- Their 2027 budget says they're using one-time reserves to cover a roughly $6M yearly gap, with General Fund balance projected to fall to $22.3M by 2028 and the Unassigned Reserve Fund to $0.

My take: the city has tens of millions in reserves while it tells developers and taxpayers it can't afford to help housing. Then it burns those reserves covering its own spending gap.

Sources:
2024 ACFR: https://cot-wp-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/finance/AnnualReports/2024+ACFR.pdf
2027 Adopted Budget: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/files.topeka.gov/government/financial-transparency/budget/Adopted+2027+Budget+-+9.24.2026.pdf
Reserve Policy, Res. 9512: https://files.topeka.gov/government/general/citypolicies/Reserve%20Policy%20Resolution%20No%209512.pdf

Henry McClure
(762) 291-2765

Henry McClure 
Time kills deals
785-383-9994

www.henrymcclure.live

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