Big ticket projects like the wellness center, water towers and wastewater treatment plant may skew reports for revenues and incomes for Seward, but an auditor’s report shows where Seward’s income comes from and where it goes.
Seward City Council members had the chance to hear some comparisons of revenues and expenses, as well as city operations, Aug. 18 as the annual audit report was delivered remotely by auditor Tracy Cannon of AMGL CPAs & Advisors.
The audit mentioned the need to continue city council oversight of finances because of the city’s relatively small administrative staff.
The city was advised to work with software support to improve its reporting on accounts payable and consider submitting loan drawdowns annually when projects like the water tower and other ongoing work span over a few fiscal years.
Seward City Manager Greg Butcher said the topic is not new.
“We talk about this every year,” he said of the staffing level.
The city works to separate financial tasks to provide appropriate controls and provide oversight by multiple people.
“We have had that as long as I have been here,” Butcher said. “We have a lot of languishing projects now.”
He said the water tower, wastewater treatment plant and other projects involve state and federal grants and financing and have been underway.
Seward, Cannon said, has higher property valuation than a group of similar-sized communities she compared it to, and is above the “recommended” targets for valuation overall and per capita.
In 2025 Seward’s property valuation on which taxes are based was $720,938,042 or $94,327 per capita. That is a $174,398,150 increase from 2021, or about 30% in values.
Cannon said while the valuation was above average, Seward’s levy on that valuation was low.
That led to property tax revenues of $2,136,231 last year, which was about 8.45% of the city’s total revenues. Property tax revenues on a per capita basis have grown from $225 per capita in 2021 to $280 per capita in 2025.
But that was the third-largest revenue source for Seward last year.
The largest revenue source in the year that ended Sept. 30 – which is not typical – was capital grants and contributions. The $13.45 million listed in that category reflects gifts and grants that funded the Seward Wellness Center and other projects and was a significant increase over the $1.4 million in that category the previous year.
Sales tax is typically the city’s largest revenue flow and generated $3.18 million in 2025 compared to $3.11 million in 2024. It comprised 12.59% of the city’s revenues. In 2025 and other years, sales tax leads the revenue sources and comprises about a quarter of the city’s funding.
That revenue also grew between 2021 and 2025, with per capita sales tax revenue growing from $278 in 2021 to $416 in 2025.
Charges for services brought in $1.85 million in 2025, up from $1.57 million in 2024, which Butcher said includes any fees for services other than utilities in Seward. This would include everything from building permits to parks and recreation fees or wellness center memberships.
Franchise taxes, which include fees the city charges utilities, cable companies, telecommunications and others who want to operate in Seward, added about $1.48 million annually, followed by $1.23 million in state allocations in 2025.
Other revenue sources include operating grants and contributions, motor vehicle taxes, occupation taxes, insurance, interest and miscellaneous sources.
Tax Incremental Financing proceeds generated $699,222 for the city in 2025, just slightly more than such receipts in 2024.
Police, library lead expenditures
The city’s expenditures – excluding capital outlays for roads and infrastructure – are led by police expenditures of $263 per capita in 2025 which have increased from $154 per capita in 2021.
Recreation expenditures grew from $36 per capita in 2021 to $43 per capita in 2024 before jumping to $113 in 2025, which may be tied to the opening of the wellness center.
The city’s expenditures for the library were reported at $88 per capita in 2025, up from $67 per capita in 2021, while golf expenditures were reported at $77 per capita, which was up from $54 per capita in 2021, but down from 2024’s $92 per capita spending.
Fire and rescue expenditures of $41 per capita in 2025 were up from $18 per capita in 2021, while the city’s administrative expenses remained more consistently in the $35 to $43 per capita range over the past five years coming down to $41 in 2025.
Other expense categories include cemetery, civic center, Dowding Pool, building inspections and the senior center.
