FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPublic safety, investments in technology and facilities among priorities
The City Manager’s proposed fiscal year 2017 (FY2017) budget was provided to City Council today in the first of four scheduled workshops. Revenue projections and known expenditures form the basis of the budget, and. As always, the budget requests received by the City Manager from departments far exceed available funding. “All of the requests are for needed items and would improve the service we are able to provide our citizens,” said City Manager Greg Burris. “The state of the City is strong – in part due to the effective work by all employees,” Burris said, in the annual budget letter that leads the 270-page budget document. “Thank you for helping us keep operations running as smoothly as possible and within budget. This is not an easy task.” The focus of the budget is on funding critical operating needs: 1) Public and employee safety, including additional officers and associated equipment; 2) Investments in technologies, including updating enterprise software that will no longer be supported by the vendor, police software to assist investigators and job applicant software; 3) Facilities maintenance and equipment, including protecting the exterior shell of the Busch Municipal Building to reduce moisture infiltration, setting aside funds to purchase a Fire ladder truck and the removal of abandoned underground fuel storage tanks; 4) Initiatives that focus on critical community issues, such as meeting some of the needs identified in the Zone Blitz Action Plan. Those include security cameras, project signage and enhanced communication with citizens. A significant amount of needs were identified in the Community Listen Zone 1 Tour last May. “We are fortunate that community partners and City Council are committed to working together to ‘move the needle’ on some of these issues,” Burris explained. What is the budget? ? The budget is a plan - a financial proposal that annually directs the provision of public services and facilities. Once finalized and adopted, the budget represents the City Manager and City Council's commitment to provide for the most important citizen needs within the boundaries of available revenue (funds). ?The City’s revenue comes from taxes, grants and fees. The City spends money on salaries, materials, and equipment. By City law, revenues and expenditures must be equal in the annual budget. This is what is meant by a balanced budget. How is the budget prepared? ?The budget process begins in January of each year and is prepared with extensive input from departments. The Finance Department begins the process of developing the revenue estimates for the following fiscal year. By the time these projections are completed in April, they are predicting revenues up to 16 months into the future. The City Managers and Finance staff meet with each department to review and discuss their budget requests. Oftentimes, these discussions result in additional discussions and/or research into the requests. A series of budget workshops allow City Council time to discuss and consider the budget in detail and put forth any suggested changes. The public is invited to the continued workshops, which are scheduled for noon on Tuesdays, May 10, 17 and 24 at the Busch Municipal Building fourth-floor conference room. Council must approve a final budget before the new fiscal year begins on July 1 each year. • View full budget document
• View summary document
• View letter to City Council # # # For more information, contact Mary Mannix Decker, Director of Finance, at 864-1399.