City of Decatur residents have six days to give their feedback (via Open City Hall) about the City of Decatur’s proposed FY2014-2015 budget.
Introduction
The City of Decatur’s Revised 2013-2014 and Proposed 2014-2015 budgets have been presented to the City Commission and is available to the public for review. The City’s budget is scheduled to be voted upon by the City Commission on June 16, 2014.
Do you support or oppose the adoption of this budget by the City Commission? Click here to have your say.
Background
The City Commission is considering balanced budgets that maintain existing service levels at the existing millage rate. Highlights of the proposed budget include:
- No change in the City millage rate of 13 mills
- Maintain existing service delivery levels
- Continued focus on supporting and maintaining quality of life services
- Implementation of strategic plan priorities
- Capital improvements – Completion of Beacon Municipal Center
- 3% merit-based market adjustment for all positions in January 2015
- 2.5% merit increase for in-step, non-probationary employees
- Pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements
- Completion of a Unified Land Development Ordinance
- Support of Decatur’s Kitchen Garden at the United Methodist Children’s Home
The proposed 2014-2015 budget reflects the City’s “vision-based” budgeting process which is guided by the 2010 Strategic Plan and the results of citizen and employee surveys that provide an understanding of the community’s priorities. Five interdepartmental vision-based budgeting teams convened around the four 2010 Strategic Plan principles and one team focused on support of exceptional public service based on innovation, professional expertise and creativity. In addition to descriptive narratives around each strategic plan principle, the budget quantifies how each principle is supported financially.
The proposed 2014-2015 General Fund budget totals $21,830,940. This is $1,177,150 higher than the adopted 2013-2014 budget of $20,653,790. The proposed 2014-2015 budget anticipates contributing $769,930 to fund balance. This would result in a remaining fund balance of approximately $5,862,150 at June 30, 2015 or approximately 27% of the operating budget. The City’s financial policies recommend maintaining a fund balance between 20-30% of the operating budget.
Overall, the budget combines conservative revenue estimates, prudent expenditure requests, responsible use of fund balance and a commitment to the city’s strategic plan and long-term vision.
For more detailed information about the proposed budget and City priorities, you can visit the City’s budget resources page.
A summary of the budget and descriptions of projects and programs can be found in these three documents:
City Manager’s Budget Message (180 KB PDF file)
Budget Narrative (2.3 MB PDF file)
Summary of Fund Budgets (1.9 MB PDF file)
Do you support or oppose the adoption of this budget by the City Commission? Click here to have your say.
