6.3. SR 03-11-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

�i City of Ells _ _ Financial Management Policies River PURPOSE The City of Elk River is fully accountable to residents and policymakers and seeks to manage all resources responsibly. The adoption of financial policies ensures transparency and accountability and provides a framework for the overall fiscal management of the city to guide the decision-making process. Most of the policies contained herein represent long-standing principles, traditions and practices which have guided the city and have helped maintain financial stability. These financial policies shall be reviewed periodically to determine if changes are necessary. OBJECTIVES • To provide sound principles to guide the decisions of the City Council and management. • To provide both short- and long-term financial stability to city government by ensuring adequate funding for new infrastructure and protecting existing infrastructure. • To protect and enhance the city's credit rating and prevent default on any municipal obligations. • To protect the City Council's policy-making ability by ensuring that important policy decisions are not constrained by financial problems or emergencies. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE With regard to revenues and expenditures, the city will: • Provide long-term financial stability through sound short- and long-term financial planning. • Estimate annual revenues and expenditures in a conservative manner so as to reduce exposure to unforeseen circumstances. • Project revenues and expenditures over five years and will update the projections each budget process. • Establish user charges and fees when they are determined to be appropriate and the direct benefits are identifiable at a rate related to the cost of providing the service (operating, direct,indirect, and capital) and will review them annually. • To the extent feasible, one-time revenues will be applied toward one-time expenditures or placed into reserves. One-time revenues will not be used to finance ongoing programs. UTILITIES • The City Council sets fees and user charges for municipal sanitary sewer utility and garbage collection. The Utilities Commission sets fees and charges for the water and electric utilities. The city will encourage the Utilities Commission to adopt financial management policies similar to the policies stated in this section. • The city will strive to set user fees for municipal utilities at a level that creates financially sustainable enterprises. Financial Management Policies Page 1