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City of Paris Charter — Article V — Section 44. <br />"The fiscal year of the City of Paris shall begin on the first day of October and shall end on the last day <br />of September of each calendar year. Such fiscal year shall also constitute the budget and accounting <br />year. " <br />The Proposed Budget is for the Fiscal Year beginning October 1, 2020 and ending on September 30, 2021. This <br />will be shown throughout this document as "FY20/21". <br />City of Paris Charter — Article V — Section 45. <br />"The City Manager, between thirty and ninety days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, shall <br />submit to the Council a proposed budget, which budget shall provide a complete financial plan for the <br />fiscal year, and shall contain the following: " <br />The following sections of this Memorandum shall be divided up between the fifteen (15) sub -sections of Section <br />45. These sub -sections are designed to represent the "complete financial plan for the fiscal year". <br />City of Paris Charter — Article V — Section 45(1) <br />"A budget message, explanatory of the budget, which message shall contain an outline of the proposed <br />financial policies of the city for the fiscal year, shall set forth the reasons for salient changes from the <br />previous fiscal year in expenditure and revenue items, and shall explain any major changes in financial <br />policy. " <br />Financial Policy <br />The overall Financial Policy of the City of Paris as shown through its Proposed FY20/21 Budget is to serve <br />the public with professionalism, civility, honesty and integrity and to provide a safe and prosperous <br />community by being responsible stewards of the taxpayer dollars and to provide quality, efficient and <br />effective services that facilitate and enhance the quality of life, recreational enjoyment, economic <br />opportunity, responsible planning, improvement of infrastructure, and public safety for all. <br />Budget Message <br />In order to accomplish the Financial Policy stated above, the City Manager carefully considered the priorities <br />for the Proposed FY20/21. These priorities consist of addressing employee pay, replacing outdated equipment, <br />adding some new critical positions, realigning all line items for maximum efficiency of funding, maintaining <br />our operational services as expected by the citizens, and following the restrictions found in the Texas Property <br />Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019. <br />Employee Pay The greatest asset the City of Paris has it's is Employees. Other than Sanitation, and <br />to a degree Utilities, the primary role of local governments is to provide those services needed by the <br />community that the Private Sector cannot provide. The primary reason the private sector does not <br />provide these services is they are labor intensive with little to no profit return. In addition, the tax payers <br />expect the highest of quality from the City services, thereby the expectation is for the employees to be <br />of such a quality that accomplishes the Financial Policy stated above. <br />Upon my arrival in April 2020, it became immediately clear that the City of Paris has fallen behind in <br />Page 4 of 15 <br />