2012-2013 PROPOSED BUDGET - Laserfiche WebLink

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memorandum TO: Mayor & Council FROM: John Godwin, City Manager SUBJECT: DRAFT 2012-13 BUDGET DATE: August l, 2012 Attached is a summary of the draft recommended 2012-13 budget. I apologize that we have gotten slightly behind schedule due to my arrival late in the process and the time required for me to work through budget requests and anticipated resources. Even so, we still have plenty of time for review, discussion, and adoption prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1. I have attempted to summarize the major expenditures and notable changes from the existing 2011-12 budget below, by fund. Although we stand prepared to discuss the budget in as much detail as necessary, and you are encouraged to look over the spreadsheet-type line item data you will receive on August 23, I recommend to the extent you are comfortable doing so that you concentrate on the big picture of the overall budget. Please keep in mind that the budget adoption ordinance that you will be asked to approve in September allocates monies by department, not by line item. Simultaneous to working on the budget, I have been gathering ideas and thoughts for a comprehensive strategic plan for Paris. Without a good warking plan, cities run the danger of adopting budgets that over time become fragmented, with little or no focus, instead just incrementally ratcheting costs up from one year to the next. A multi-year plan encourages us to spend monies more wisely and more efficiently over a longer period of time. I assume the council will adopt a good working plan well before next year's budget cycle, but I also identified major issues in this year's budget that I think will need to be worked on over the next several years, and I therefore tried to focus on funding those areas now. These major areas include continued cleanup of the city, expanding our commitment to planning, compensating employees based more on actual performance, investing in infrastructure replacement (not just repair), reorganizing certain functions and departinents, and preparing for majar improvements at Pat Mayse and the future wastewater treatment plant project. Despite the need for many tangible improvements, some of them quite costly, in preparing the budget I have also tried to be cognizant of the need to be fiscally prudent, and maintain or possibly even reduce our ad valorem tax rate. In fact, it was my goal to reduce the tax rate by