Attached is the working budget document.  It starts with the 100 General Fund and ends with the 550 American Recovery Plan Act Fund (from smallest to largest fund number). Notes at the bottom of each fund page provide insight to unique elements or changes.

Reading from left to right you will see the account number, account title, 2019-2021 Actual, 2022 Projected Budget (the revised budget for 2022), 2023 Budget (proposed), 2024 Budget (estimate) and 2025 Budget (estimate).

Cells highlighted in Turquoise indicate accounts containing amounts in support of Objectives. Red cells indicate a new line item has been added. Yellow cells reflect the numbers that are still tentative.  Blue cells remind staff of a point we want to make about that entry. 

The General Fund (101-115) is the first fund.  Beginning Fund Balance is shown as the first revenue line.  Revenues are shown at the beginning (top) of each fund sheet, subtotals are shown for each major segment of revenue.  Expenses follow revenues, these are separated into departments (Police, Admin, Public Works, etc.).  Department line item expenses are also subtotaled into major type (Personnel, Contractual Services, Commodities, Capital, Debt Service, Transfers).  At the end of each fund is the Ending Fund Balance line.  As we review each fund we will highlight the estimated ending fund balances and provide an explanation for changes in the ending balance.

Please make notes as you review and have questions. We recognize that this document will not answer all questions and staff will stand ready to address questions.  We have developed the document in excel and staff has included comments in cells to serve as a detailed reference.

Property taxes for 2023 through 2025 are based upon a .55 mill reduction from the current 2022 mill rate (28.549).  Each mill of the City levy equates to $120,000 of revenue ($115k in property tax and $5k in shared sales/use tax from the county). Staff supports a 1.55 mill reduction due to the higher than normal growth in assessed value (14%). Council has indicated their intent to add a new curbside glass recycling service without adding that additional cost to the solid waste assessment; this results in an additional cost to the general fund equal to roughly 1 mill.  This new service fee plus the .55 mill reduction reflected in the line item budget total 1.55 mills.

Staff encourages Council to consider adding the cost of the glass recycling service to the solid waste assessment in a series of steps.  For example including 25% of the cost of the new service in the solid waste assessment in 2023, 50% in 2024, 75% in 2025 and 100% in 2026.  Recovering the cost of a service through a fee where that cost is clearly identifiable and applicable to each customer is good fiscal policy which also enhances transparency to residents.  This approach will also afford the opportunity to decrease the mill in each subsequent year by an offsetting amount. For example if 25% of the cost of the glass recycling service was included to the 2023 solid waste assessment the mill reduction for 2023 could be .80 vs .55.

Because the City uses General Fund resources to pay for capital, the mill levy is a key component to being able to fund capital on a pay as you go approach.  The proposed .55 mill reduction will not cause delay in completing the projects reflected in the CIP as presented. 

Personnel costs reflect a 4% allowance for merit based pay increases as well as increased health insurance premium costs for 2023.  A 4% inflation adjustment to staff's hourly rate is reflected in the Projected 2022 budget, per Council direction.  The only staffing level changes (.75 FTE's) reflected for 2023 is for two seasonal maintenance positions shared between the Parks department and the TIF1 fund (this is an item Council provided direction on earlier) .

Also attached is the current version of the capital improvement plan.  The expenses associated with CIP items in years 2022 through 2025 are reflected in the appropriate line item of the budget.  Staff will point these out during our review. Capital investment planned between 2022 and 2025 is higher than normal and reflects the City's efforts to address the most important citizen satisfaction element, maintenance of facilities and infrastructure.  Balances within our capital funds fluctuate during this period but remain positive.  The attached graph showing "History of Expenditures by Major Category" reflects Capital Outlay by year between 2017 and 2025, with this category averaging 45% of total costs during this period.  The graph also shows a steady annual increase in both Personnel (30% of total) and Contractual Services (22% of total) with Commodity costs (3% of total) remaining fairly constant.

Revenues have been estimated conservatively (we expect they will be higher than budget).  Expenses continue to be refined to be closer to our actual history, but again conservative (we expect they will be lower than budget).

The ending fund balance for each of our funds remains positive through the 2025 estimates.  In addition the ending fund balance benchmarks are being met through 2025.  The 2022 Projected Budget reflects current revenue and expense conditions that are now known vs what we estimated a year ago when the 2022 budget was developed.