General Fund days-cash-on-hand — how many days the district could run on its operating cash — vs. size-matched peers, FY2020–FY2026 · June 2026
What it is: the most direct measure of liquidity — the district's General Fund cash & investments divided by its average daily spending. It answers "if the money stopped coming in, how many days could the lights stay on?" Unlike reserves or spending authority, this is actual cash.
Why days, not dollars: a big district needs more cash than a small one, so raw dollars aren't comparable — days-cash normalizes for size. GFOA recommends keeping at least ~60 days.
About the last three points: FY2024 is now the district's audited figure (its FY2024 ACFR was filed June 2026); FY2025 (~33 days) is an unaudited internal number the COO gave the board in April 2026; and FY2026 (~7 days, the hollow marker) is a forward projection from PFM's April 28, 2026 update — not a close. FY2025 and FY2026 have not been audited yet.
Iowa City has run below the ~60-day GFOA guideline every year. Its operating cash fell from ~53 days in 2020 to ~33 in 2023 — the thinnest of any large district, vs. a peer average near 98. The audited FY2024 figure shows a modest rebound to ~41 days (notably, that came in below the ~47 days the district's own unaudited report had claimed), but it didn't stick: the unaudited FY2025 number is back to ~33 days — the same as the 2023 low, and FY2026 is projected at just ~7. By any honest read, the district has sat near 33–41 days of cash for most of the last several years, well short of the guideline. Peers, meanwhile, held ~87 days. This is the cash behind the district's tax-anticipation-warrant and interfund-loan discussions.
⚠ FY2024 is now audited; FY2025–FY2026 are not. The audited FY2024 cash position actually came in lower than the district's own earlier unaudited estimate — a useful reminder that self-reported figures filed before the audit can overstate the cushion. FY2025 (~33 days) is still the district's own internal number, and FY2026 (~7 days) is a projection that hinges on planned short-term borrowing. Until those years are audited (committed by May 2027), treat the open markers as estimates, not actuals.