diff --git a/src/escrow/escrow.service.ts b/src/escrow/escrow.service.ts
index 6d2dd289..c252993f 100644
--- a/src/escrow/escrow.service.ts
+++ b/src/escrow/escrow.service.ts
@@ -584,20 +584,14 @@ export class EscrowService {
     recipients: Array<[string, number]>,
     manager?: EntityManager,
   ): Promise<ContractInvocationResult> {
-    return this.invokeOnLockedEscrow(escrow, operation, () =>
-      this.soroban.invoke(
-        'release',
-        // `release(issue_id: u64, recipients)` — u64-typed on-chain (#301).
-        [u64(this.onChainKeyFor(escrow)), recipients],
-        this.contractOpts(escrow),
-      ),
     return this.invokeOnLockedEscrow(
       escrow,
       operation,
       () =>
         this.soroban.invoke(
           'release',
-          [this.onChainKeyFor(escrow), recipients],
+          // `release(issue_id: u64, recipients)` — u64-typed on-chain (#301).
+          [u64(this.onChainKeyFor(escrow)), recipients],
           this.contractOpts(escrow),
         ),
       manager,
diff --git a/src/github/github-webhooks.service.spec.ts b/src/github/github-webhooks.service.spec.ts
index 45bb6fe8..a35ac3be 100644
--- a/src/github/github-webhooks.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/github/github-webhooks.service.spec.ts
@@ -869,6 +869,9 @@ describe('GithubWebhooksService', () => {
 
       expect(bountiesService.markInReview).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
       expect(bountiesService.markMergedAndRelease).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
+
   // #308: a redelivered X-GitHub-Delivery used to hit the unique constraint
   // on webhook_events.deliveryId and escape handleEvent as a 500, so every
   // redelivery of that event failed forever.
diff --git a/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.spec.ts b/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.spec.ts
index 88ff0c4a..87dc5a27 100644
--- a/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.spec.ts
@@ -302,6 +302,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('rejects when the pool has no funded escrow yet', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         balance: '100',
         escrowId: null,
       });
@@ -315,6 +316,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('rejects when the requested amount exceeds the pool balance', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         balance: '50',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
       });
@@ -337,6 +339,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('releases the reward and atomically decrements the balance', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         balance: '100',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
       });
@@ -373,6 +376,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('rejects a reward for a non-maintenance issue before releasing funds', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         balance: '100',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
       });
@@ -391,6 +395,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('rejects an issue outside the pool repository', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         repositoryId: 'repository-1',
         balance: '100',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
@@ -410,6 +415,7 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     it('rejects when the issue has already received a reward from this pool (#273)', async () => {
       poolRepo.findOne.mockResolvedValue({
         id: 'pool-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
         balance: '100',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
       });
@@ -437,9 +443,14 @@ describe('MaintenancePoolService', () => {
     // time — not a value cached from an earlier read — and neither
     // decrement is lost.
     it('two concurrent assignReward calls both apply — no lost decrement (#51)', async () => {
-      const sharedPoolRow: { balance: string; escrowId: string } = {
+      const sharedPoolRow: {
+        balance: string;
+        escrowId: string;
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus;
+      } = {
         balance: '1000.0000000',
         escrowId: 'escrow-1',
+        status: MaintenancePoolStatus.ACTIVE,
       };
       poolRepo.findOne.mockImplementation(() =>
         Promise.resolve({ id: 'pool-1', ...sharedPoolRow }),
diff --git a/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.ts b/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.ts
index 13415a62..e649b77c 100644
--- a/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.ts
+++ b/src/maintenance-pool/maintenance-pool.service.ts
@@ -176,8 +176,17 @@ export class MaintenancePoolService {
       .execute();
 
     if (updateResult.affected === 0) {
+      // `pool.balance` was read BEFORE the conditional UPDATE — under the
+      // concurrency this guard exists for (#274) it's stale and can read
+      // higher than the real balance. Re-read the live value so the error
+      // reports the actual current balance, not the pre-update one (#608).
+      const current = await this.poolRepo.findOne({
+        where: { id },
+        select: ['balance'],
+      });
+      const balance = current?.balance ?? pool.balance;
       throw new BadRequestException(
-        `Requested reward ${amount} exceeds pool balance ${pool.balance}`,
+        `Requested reward ${amount} exceeds pool balance ${balance}`,
       );
     }
 
diff --git a/src/sponsors/sponsors.controller.ts b/src/sponsors/sponsors.controller.ts
index b7a48cca..c097bf1e 100644
--- a/src/sponsors/sponsors.controller.ts
+++ b/src/sponsors/sponsors.controller.ts
@@ -26,25 +26,6 @@ function validatePage(limit?: number, offset?: number) {
     throw new BadRequestException('offset must be >= 0');
   }
   return { limit, offset };
-/**
- * Parse optional limit/offset query params, rejecting NaN, negatives,
- * non-integers, and limits above MAX_PAGE_LIMIT with a 400 (#280).
- */
-function parsePagination(limit?: string, offset?: string) {
-  const parse = (name: string, raw: string | undefined, min: number, max: number) => {
-    if (raw === undefined || raw === '') return undefined;
-    const n = Number(raw);
-    if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n < min || n > max) {
-      throw new BadRequestException(
-        `${name} must be an integer between ${min} and ${max}`,
-      );
-    }
-    return n;
-  };
-  return {
-    limit: parse('limit', limit, 1, MAX_PAGE_LIMIT),
-    offset: parse('offset', offset, 0, Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER),
-  };
 }
 
 @ApiTags('sponsors')
@@ -73,7 +54,6 @@ export class SponsorsController {
   ) {
     this.assertOwnsSponsor(user, id);
     return this.sponsorsService.dashboard(id, validatePage(limit, offset));
-    return this.sponsorsService.dashboard(id, parsePagination(limit, offset));
   }
 
   @ApiBearerAuth()
@@ -91,6 +71,5 @@ export class SponsorsController {
       id,
       validatePage(limit, offset),
     );
-    return this.sponsorsService.milestoneProgress(id, parsePagination(limit, offset));
   }
 }