HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-27 - Establishing Financial Policies
Exhibit A
TITLE:
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT POLICIES
Finance and IT Department
BUDGET
CATEGORY: ADOPTION LEVEL:
DATE:
CITY COUNCIL
B-001
Policy Resolution
POLICY NO.: ENABLING RESOLUTION
No. _____
(resolution no)
Authorizing Signature
ORIGINALLY ADOPTED
11/20/2013
REVISED
6/16/2021
POLICY COMMITTEE
6/9/2021
DEPARTMENT HEAD
(signature date)
CITY OF UKIAH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT POLICIES
Table of Contents
A. General Financial Goals ..................................................................................................................... 2
B. Budget Administration ...................................................................................................................... 2
C. General Revenue Management ........................................................................................................ 4
D. Utility Rates and Fees ........................................................................................................................ 4
E. Investments ....................................................................................................................................... 5
F. Expenditures ..................................................................................................................................... 5
G. Equipment Replacement Funds ........................................................................................................ 5
H. Capital Improvement Program ......................................................................................................... 6
I. Debt Management ............................................................................................................................ 6
L. Human Resources Management ....................................................................................................... 9
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Exhibit A
A. General Financial Goals
The general financial goals of the City of Ukiah are:
A.1. To maintain a financially viable City that provides an adequate level of municipal services.
A.2. To maintain financial flexibility to be able to continually adapt to local and regional
economic changes.
A.3. To maintain and enhance the sound fiscal condition of the City.
B. Budget Administration
B.1. The City will strive to adopt a balanced budget by June 30 preceding the fiscal year. A
balanced budget means that operating revenues and other financing sources must fully
cover operating expenditures, including debt service, as set forth in B.6. below. A balanced
budget allows for total expenditures to exceed revenues and other financing sources;
however, beginning fund balance and strategic reserve funds should only be used to fund
capital improvement projects or other one-time, non-recurring expenditures, as set forth in
B.10. below.
B.2. The City will prepare a budget calendar no later than January 15 preceding the budget
period.
B.3. The City will use a budget development process based primarily on best practices as
promulgated by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) that emphasizes long-
range planning and effective program management. The process will:
a. Reinforce the importance of long-range planning in managing the City's fiscal
affairs.
b. Focus on developing and budgeting for the accomplishment of significant goals.
c. Establish realistic timeframes for achieving goals.
d. Create a proactive budget that provides for stable operations and assures the
City's long-term fiscal health.
e. Promote orderly spending patterns.
B.4. During the budget development process, the existing budget will be thoroughly examined to
ensure City services deemed necessary and desirable by the City Council are planned and
delivered effectively and efficiently.
B.5. The City will avoid budgetary and accounting practices that balance the current budget at
the expense of future budgets.
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Exhibit A
B.6. The City will strive to support current operating expenditures, including debt service, with
current revenues.
B.7. The City will forecast its revenues and expenditures for each of the succeeding five years
and will update this forecast at least annually.
B.8. The status of major program goals will be formally reported to the City Council on a
periodic, ongoing basis.
B.9. Budget amendments and adjustments. Budgetary control is maintained at the following
levels:
a. The City Council maintains budgetary control for the entire overall City budget. It
will review and amend appropriations regularly as needed to any budgeted fund,
with the following exceptions:
i. The City Manager maintains budgetary control at the fund level. The City
Manager may approve and adjust the budget within any budgeted fund so long
as the net appropriation to the fund is not increased, e.g., an increase to a
budget line item or account is offset by a commensurate reduction to a different
budget line item or account.
ii. The Finance Director, or designee, maintains budgetary control at the line item,
object, or account level. The Finance Director may approve and adjust the
budget within objects, e.g. between a parent object account and a project sub-
object account. Also, the Finance Director may approve budget adjustments
that result in a total increase to a fund budget so long as a commensurate
revenue amount is recognized, e.g. an expenditure is reimbursed by a third-
party (reimbursable jobs).
B.10. The City will strive to preserve the spending of fund balance and strategic reserve funds for
capital improvement projects, or other one-time, non-recurring expenditures. Non-
recurring expenditures are defined here as those that do not regularly recur beyond a stated
limited amount of time, e.g. beyond three years, as recommended by the City Manager and
approved by the City Council.
B.11. Unspent, unencumbered operating and capital improvement program appropriations will
lapse at the end of the budget period. Requests for lapsed program appropriations may be
resubmitted for inclusion in the subsequent fiscal year. Unspent but encumbered
appropriations at the end of a fiscal year shall amend the budget of the subsequent fiscal
year. The Finance Department shall execute this amendment as part of its year-end closing
procedures.
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Exhibit A
C. General Revenue Management
C.1. The City will seek to maintain a diversified and stable revenue base to protect it from short -
term fluctuations in any one revenue source.
C.2. To emphasize and facilitate long-range financial planning, the City shall strive to maintain
current projections of revenues for the succeeding five years.
C.3. Because revenues, especially those of the General Fund, are sensitive to both local and
regional economic conditions, revenue estimates adopted by the City Council should be
conservative and based primarily on best practices promulgated by GFOA.
C.4. The City will annually review the General Fund operating position (revenues less
expenditures) to determine if funds are available to operate and maintain future capital
facilities. If funding is not available for operations and maintenance expenditures, the City
will evaluate all viable options.
C.5. User fees will be reviewed and updated on a periodic basis to recover the full cost of
services provided, except when the City Council determines that a subsidy from the General
Fund is within the cost recovery policy adopted by the Council. The City will strive to
establish a master fee schedule that will encompass all fees and charges of the City and
make that fee schedule publicly available.
C.6. Any transfers between funds for operating purposes shall be clearly set forth in the Adopted
Budget. These operating transfers, under which financial resources are transferred from one
fund to another, are distinctly different from interfund borrowings, which are usually made
for temporary cash flow reasons and are not intended to result in a transfer of financial
resources by the end of the fiscal year. From time to time, interfund borrowings may be
appropriate but are subject to the following criteria and in accordance with the City’s
adopted Debt Management Policy:
a. The Finance Director is authorized to approve temporary interfund borrowings
for cash flow purposes whenever the cash shortfall is expected to be resolved
within 60 days or the next fiscal year. The most common use of interfund
borrowing under this circumstance is for grant programs where costs are
incurred before drawdowns are initiated and received.
b. Interfund advances or other long-term interfund borrowing exceeding one year
in maturity can be executed by the Finance Director, pursuant to any applicable
law, and shall subsequently be reported to the City Council.
D. Utility Rates and Fees
D.1. The City will set utility rates and user fees at levels that fully recover the total direct and
indirect costs of the activity. Direct costs include the costs of operations, including the
maintenance of facilities, capital outlay, debt service and annual depreciation of capital
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Exhibit A
assets. Indirect costs include those associated with administrative allocations and internal
services used.
D.2. The City shall review and adjust utility rates and user charges as required no less than once
every five years to ensure that they remain appropriate and equitable.
E. Investments
E.1. The Finance Director will annually submit an investment policy to the City Council for review
and adoption.
E.2. Under the guidance of the City's Investment Oversight Committee, the Finance Director will
invest the City's idle monies with an outside investment advisor in accordance with
applicable law and adopted investment policies and direct the investment of bond or note
monies on deposit with a trustee or fiscal agent in accordance with the applicable indenture
or issuance document.
F. Expenditures
F.1. The City will strive to maintain a level of expenditures that will provide for the public well-
being and safety of the residents of the community.
F.2. The City will strive to provide a level of expenditure that will maintain its assets.
F.3. The City will maintain purchasing methods in accordance with law and the City's adopted
purchasing policies and procedures to secure the most competitive price consistent with the
highest quality desirable for use intended and the needs of the City.
F.4. The City Council will annually adopt a resolution establishing the City' s appropriations limit
calculated in accordance with Article Xlll-8 of the Constitution of the State of California,
Section 7900 of the State of California Government Code, and any other voter approved
amendments or state legislation that affects the City's appropriations limit. The Council will
generally consider this resolution in connection with final approval of the City's budget.
G. Equipment Replacement Funds
G.1. The City will maintain a General Government Equipment Replacement Fund (Fund 220) for
governmental funds and equipment replacement funds for each proprietary fund where
appropriate and desirable to provide for the timely replacement of vehicles, equipment,
network and computer, and other short-lived capital assets.
G.2. The City will strive to make an annual contribution to these funds based on the annual use
allowance, which is determined by the estimated life of the vehicles or equipment to be
replaced and their original purchase costs.
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Exhibit A
G.3. Interest earnings and sales of surplus equipment as well as any related damage and
insurance recoveries will be credited to the funds in which the asset was capitalized
(proprietary funds) or from which the original capital expenditure was incurred.
H. Capital Improvement Program
H.1. The City will develop a five-year capital improvement program (CIP) each budget cycle. The
purpose of the CIP is to systematically plan, schedule and finance capital projects to ensure
cost-effectiveness as well as conformance with the City's established policies.
H.2. Questions to consider when prioritizing a capital project include:
a. Is it mandated?
b. Is there an emergency need?
c. Is there a direct or indirect economic benefit?
d. Is there full or partial funding?
e. Does it detail with other capital projects that are a priority for other reasons?
f. How does it fit in with the City Council's strategic goals?
H.3. The City will identify the estimated costs, potential funding sources, and project schedule for
each capital project proposal in the CIP before it is submitted to the City Council for
approval.
H.4. The City will coordinate the development of the CIP with the development of the operating
budget.
H.5. Construction projects that cost $20,000 or more and equipment purchases that cost
$10,000 or more will be included in the CIP, except for replacements of police squad cars
which are included in the operating program budget. Minor capital construction outlays of
less than $20,000 and minor equipment purchases of less than $10,000 will be included in
the operating program budgets.
H.6. The City will make all capital improvements in accordance with an adopted and funded CIP.
H.7. Cost tracking procedures for current-period components of the CIP will be implemented and
updated quarterly to ensure project completion is within budget and established timelines.
I. Debt Management
I.1. The City will consider the use of debt financing in accordance with its Debt Management
Policy and when determined reasonable and cost-effective, notably for high-priority, non-
recurring capital improvement projects and only under the following circumstances:
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Exhibit A
a. When the project's useful life will exceed or equal the term of financing, and;
b. When projected revenues or specific resources will be sufficient to service the
long-term debt.
I.2. Debt financing should not be considered appropriate for any recurring purpose such as
current operating and maintenance expenditures. The issuance of short-term instruments
such as revenue, tax or bond anticipation notes is excluded from this limitation.
I.3. The City will carefully monitor its level of debt because debt capacity is limited. Funds
borrowed for a project today are not available to fund other projects tomorrow, and funds
committed for debt repayment today are not available to fund operations tomorrow.
I.4. A feasibility analysis will be prepared for each long-term financing which analyzes the
impact on current and future budgets for debt service and operations. This analysis will also
address the reliability of revenues to support debt service.
I.5. The City will diligently monitor its compliance with bond covenants and ensure its
adherence to federal arbitrage regulations.
I.6. The City will maintain good, ongoing communications with bond rating agencies about the
City' s financial condition.
I.7. Periodic reviews of all outstanding debt will be undertaken to determine refinancing
opportunities. Refinancing will be considered under the following conditions:
a. There is a net economic benefit.
b. It is needed to modernize covenants that are adversely affecting the City's
financial position or operations.
c. The City wants to reduce the principal outstanding in order to achieve future
debt service savings, and it has available working capital to do so from other
sources.
J. Fund Balance and Reserves
J.1. The City shall strive to maintain a unassigned fund balance in the General Fund, including
the General Fund's Strategic Reserve Fund, of at least 25 percent of General Fund operating
expenditures. A 25-percent fund balance is equivalent to approximately three months of
operating expenditures. The primary purpose of this minimum fund balance is to meet cash
flow requirements; to protect the City's essential service programs and funding
requirements during periods of economic uncertainty, local disasters, other financial
hardships or downturns in the local economy; and to provide for unforeseen operating or
capital needs. Additionally, a fund balance of 25 percent is considered the minimum level
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Exhibit A
necessary to maintain the City's credit worthiness and is consistent with GFOA best
practices.
J.2. The City Council may assign specific fund balance levels for future development of capital
projects that it has determined to be in the best long-term interests of the City.
J.3. The City's enterprise funds shall strive to maintain a minimum working capital balance
(defined as current assets minus current liabilities) of at least 25 percent of operating
J.4.
J.5. expenditures. The primary purpose of this balance is to set aside funds to maintain cash
balances sufficient to pay expenses as needed and to provide for unanticipated or
emergency expenses that could not be reasonably foreseen during the preparation of the
budget.
J.6. In addition to the designated balances noted above, levels of fund balance and working
capital will be sufficient to meet:
a. Debt service covenants and reserve requirements.
b. Reserves for encumbrances.
c. Established rate stabilization reserves.
d. Funding requirements for projects approved in prior years that are carried
forward.
e. Credit worthiness standards or requirements.
f. Other assignments required by contractual obligations, state law, generally
accepted accounting principles, or GFOA best practices.
K. Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting
K.1. The City's accounting and financial reporting systems will be maintained in conformance
with generally accepted accounting principles and standards of the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board.
K.2. A capital asset system will be maintained to identify all City assets, their historical cost, and
useful life. Consistent with the accompanying policies set forth for the City's Capital
Improvement Program, the capitalization threshold for capital assets is a minimum two-year
lifespan and total initial cost of $10,000.
K.3. An annual audit will be performed by an independent public accounting firm with the
subsequent issue of, at a minimum, General Purpose Financial Statements that include an
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Exhibit A
audit opinion. The City shall strive to issue audited financial statements within 180 days
after year-end.
L. Human Resources Management
L.1. The City Council shall establish and authorize all regular positions, including part-time,
seasonal, and extra-help regular positions through the budget process. The City Manager is
authorized to hire limited-term extra-help positions when needed and necessary. The City
Manager also is authorized to over-hire for positions where vacancies are expected or
imminent during the fiscal year to mitigate service disruption.
L.2. The budget will fully appropriate the resources needed for authorized regular positions and
will limit programs to the regular staffing authorized.
L.3. The City will strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits for its authorized
regular employees. Market adjustments may be made by the City Council upon
recommendation by the City Manager.
L.4. All request for additional regular positions will include evaluations of:
a. The necessity, benefits, term and expected results of the proposed activity.
b. Staffing and materials costs including salary, benefits, equipment, uniforms,
support, and facilities and related funding requirements.
c. Alternative means of service delivery, with consideration given to quality of
service.
d. Additional revenues or cost savings that may be realized.
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