Where Does $139 Million Go?

Moscow's full budget: General Fund, enterprise funds, capital reserves, and what each covers

The Budget Is Not One Pot of Money

Moscow's total FY2026 adopted budget is $139.5 million, which nearly tripled from $49.9 million in FY2008. But most of that money is not "discretionary" city spending - it is organized into separate funds that can only be used for specific purposes.

The General Fund ($20.6M) is what most people think of as "the city budget." It pays for police, fire, city administration, legal, community development, and parks programs. It is funded primarily by property taxes, state revenue sharing, permits, and franchise fees.

The enterprise funds (water: $8.8M, sewer: $9.9M, sanitation: $7.6M) are self-supporting utility operations. Rates pay for them. No property tax crosses into these funds.

Idaho law requires a balanced budget - the city cannot legally spend more than it takes in across all funds. Capital reserve funds can carry forward balances from year to year, which is why large projects appear as big spikes in capital fund budgets even though the cash was accumulated over time.

The large growth from FY2008 to FY2026 is partly real (inflation, population growth, new services) and partly structural: the Street Fund, Capital Fund, and Interfund Transfers grew substantially as the city began budgeting multi-year capital projects that were previously off-budget or debt-financed.

Total Budget (All Funds) by Year, FY2008-FY2026

Source: Moscow adopted budget documents, total revenue across all funds each fiscal year. FY = fiscal year ending September 30. Idaho law requires balanced budgets; revenue = expenditure.

FY2026 Revenue by Fund Type

General Fund vs enterprise funds (water, sewer, sanitation) vs streets, parks/rec, and other capital/reserve funds. Source: FY2026 adopted budget.

Top Departments by Spending, FY2026

General Fund departments only. Police, fire, admin, legal, community dev, parks, streets. Source: EXPENDITURE_BY_DEPT, FY2026 values.

Budget by Fund, FY2026 vs FY2008

Fund FY2008 FY2026 Growth
Source: Moscow adopted budget documents. "Other" includes capital reserve, interfund transfers, and smaller special funds. Figures are adopted budget totals for each fund.

Why Did the Budget Triple?

Three main drivers explain the growth from $49.9M to $139.5M over 18 years:

1. Capital budgeting. Moscow shifted to explicitly budgeting capital projects within the adopted budget rather than tracking them separately. The Capital Fund went from near-zero in FY2008 to tens of millions in recent years as CIP projects are formally adopted.

2. Enterprise fund growth. Water rates, sewer rates, and sanitation rates all increased to fund aging infrastructure and state-required treatment upgrades. Sewer alone grew from $4.6M to $9.9M.

3. Interfund transfers. As the city professionalizes internal services (fleet, IT, HR), it routes charges through interfund transfers. These appear in both the sending and receiving fund, which inflates total budget figures compared to simple fund totals.