Oversight committee reviews draft audit showing $12 million across the city's three sales tax funds

Larkspur's Sales Tax Measures Citizens' Oversight Committee meets today to take its first look at the draft audited financial statements for fiscal year 2024-25 covering Measures B, G and C. The numbers are the clearest annual accounting residents get of where the city's voter-approved sales tax money goes.

The Measure B fund took in $2,953,421 in sales tax revenue plus $441,011 in investment income, and transferred out $2,589,617 — including $1,412,578 to the Larkspur Public Financing Authority for road rehabilitation debt service, $141,775 to the General Fund for a Central Marin Fire truck lease, and capital funding for storm drain and community space work. It closed the year with a fund balance of $9,889,987. The Measure G fund collected $971,965 in sales tax and $67,305 in investment income, spent $25,307 on the Hall Middle gym and library resiliency projects, and ended at $2,241,508. Measure C, whose tax ended in 2018, earned $40,032 in investment income and sent out $842,648 for resiliency work at the Commons, leaving just $68,306.

Also on the agenda: an oral update on Measure B- and G-funded road rehabilitation, storm drain repairs and the Heatherwood Storm Drain Pump Station rebuild, plus updated sales tax data including the HdL forecaster's read on Q2 2025 trends in Larkspur. The committee will also appoint a chair.

The recommendation on the audit is simply to receive it. The city's full audited financial statements go to the City Council on December 3.

Committee trimmed a fire-district request and steered the money back to Larkspur neighborhood groups

Tucked into today's packet are the minutes of the committee's March 3 meeting, which show the panel pushing back on how Measure G money would be spent. City Manager Dan Schwarz had proposed giving $43,000 of Measure G funds to Central Marin Fire for the Neighborhood Response Group (NRG) program.

According to the minutes, the committee recommended an alternative that would focus the money specifically on Larkspur NRGs. Schwarz then proposed that staff instead develop a grant program for Larkspur NRGs funded with $25,000 from Measure G, and the committee agreed. A majority then voted to support the rest of staff's FY2025-26 recommendations.

The same minutes record a housekeeping fix with a watchdog's instinct behind it: the December 2, 2024 minutes were amended to make clear the financial statements the committee had reviewed were drafts, approved on the condition that no changes were made afterward. The City Manager confirmed none had been.