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Investment officials participating in the investment process shall seek to act responsibly as custodians of the public trust and shall avoid any transaction that might impair public confidence in the City of St. Anthony s ability to govern effectively. IV. RESERVES It is important for the financial stability of the City to maintain reserve funds for unantic expenditures or unforeseen emergencies, as well as to provide adequate working capital current operating needs so as to avoid short -term borrowing. Policy Statement: 1. The City will assign annual general fund surpluses to a Contingency Reserve Fund from the prior year's General Fund budget. These funds are available for appropriation by the Council for unanticipated expenditures and unforeseen emergencies. Council will review the request for funding on a scheduled basis and authorize funding as necessary. In an emergency, the City Manager has the authority to commit funds from the Contingency Reserve Fund. 2. The City will maintain fund balances in the General and Special Revenue Funds at a level which will avoid issuing short -term debt to meet the cash flow needs of the current operating budget. Generally, the goal of the City is to maintain a minimum balance of 30% - 35% of the operating budget. Within the general operating fund is the accounting of the Police contractual services provided to Lauderdale and Falcon Heights. Since each City makes payment on a monthly basis, there are no reserves deemed necessary for these expenditures. This need could fluctuate with each years budget objectives and appropriations such as large capital expenditures and variations in the collection of revenues. V. OPERATING BUDGET The Operating Budget is the annual financial plan for funding the costs of City services and programs. The General Operating Budget includes the General Fund, the Special Revenue Funds, the Street Reconstruction Fund, the Community Center Fund and the Capital Equipment Fund. Enterprise operations are budgeted in separate Enterprise Funds. 1. The City Manager shall submit a balanced budget in which appropriations shall not exceed the total of the estimated revenues and available fund balance. 2. The City will provide for all current expenditures with current revenues. The City will avoid budgetary procedures that balance current expenditures at the expense of meeting future years budgets. 3. The City will coordinate the development of the 5 -Year Capital Equipment Budget with the development of the operating budget. Operating costs associated with capital improvements will be projected, approved by Council and budgeted on a project basis.