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5 <br />SECTION 3 - BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL CONTROL <br />Purpose <br />The City’s operating budgets establish annual plans for funding the costs of municipal programs <br />and services. The operating budgets are comprised of the General, Special Revenue, and Debt <br />Service Funds. Budgeting policies are designed to promote a long-term perspective required to <br />maintain a constant level of services by ensuring stable revenues and efficient allocation of those <br />revenues among City services. <br />Policy <br /> <br />Department Directors will be responsible for the administration of their respective Department <br />Budgets. Department Directors are expected to submit requests for any required budget <br />adjustments, such as supplemental appropriations, to the Finance Director or the City <br />Administrator before the program incurs cost overruns for the annual budget period. <br /> <br /> Department Directors will be permitted to spend budgeted departmental funds up to $5,000 <br />without City Administrator approval. <br /> The City Administrator will be permitted to spend unbudgeted City funds up to $5,000 <br />without Council approval. <br /> <br />The following considerations and procedures will be used to comply with this policy: <br /> <br /> Proper care in the management of funds lies with the manager responsible for approving <br />expenditures. Such management includes, but is not limited to, reviewing expenditures <br />before authorization, reviewing financial reports to detect errors and assess progress, and <br />staying within expenditure budget authorization. All costs incurred must be reasonable <br />and necessary. Any obligation incurred by any person in the employ of the City for any <br />purpose not authorized in the budget resolution or for any amount in excess of the amount <br />herein authorized may be deemed a personal obligation of the person incurring the <br />expenditure. <br /> The City will not use short-term borrowing to balance the budget for any fund except to <br />provide for a capital need in one fund and an investment opportunity for another fund. <br /> The City will not sell assets or use one-time accounting principle changes to balance the <br />budget for any fund, except as approved by the City Council. <br /> City staff will make a general effort to obtain the lowest overall price for the best product <br />or service. <br /> The City will televise all budget meetings each year, including the required Budget <br />Meeting with public input. <br /> The operating budgets will provide for all current expenditures with current revenues, <br />matching ongoing operating expenses with the appropriate source of ongoing revenues. <br />The City’s annual General Fund operating budget will be balanced so that current <br />expenditures will not exceed current revenues. Exceptions to this practice would be; <br />emergency situations, the use of prior year’s surpluses to minimize the current year levy <br />increase or limiting the reliance on state aid because its continuance in future years is <br />questionable. The operating budgets will provide for adequate maintenance of the capital <br />plant and equipment, and for their orderly replacement.