6.3. SR 06-15-2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Long -Term Financial Planning As part of a yearly budget process, the City Council reviews the updated Financial Management Plan. The Financial Management Plan provides a long-range forecast that brings together future expenditures, revenues, and development of the City. The Council has been diligent in maintaining a level tax rate. This plan provides the information needed to develop in a manner that will sustain or expand City services while keeping the property taxes stable. Department heads take part in this process to estimate staff additions, service levels, and capital needs for the next ten years. In addition, the City Council continually reviews cash flow analysis and long-term planning as part of the comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) process. The CIP is a five-year planning tool that forecasts the City's capital needs based on the City's long-range plans, goals, and policies. Relevant Financial Policies The City Council has adopted a comprehensive set of Financial Management Policies that provide the basic framework for the overall fiscal management of the City. The Financial Management Policies include: revenues, property taxes, investments, purchasing, financial reporting, reserves, fund balance, capital investment, and debt policies. The City's policy on fund balance states that the City will maintain an unassigned fund balance of not less than 40- 45% of budgeted general fund operating expenditures. The percentage of unassigned fund balance at December 31, 2019 is 45%. Since property tax payments are received by the City in two installments in July and December, the City needs adequate cash reserves for cash flow in order to avoid short-term borrowing to finance operations. Major Initiatives Through the state's Corridors of Commerce program, Highway 169, which runs north -south through Elk River, was selected for $157 million state transportation funding. The project will redesign and reconstruct three miles of Highway 169 to a new freeway by removing five stop lights through Elk River. During 2019, the `169 Redefine' project team consisting of MnDOT, the City of Elk River and Sherburne County began evaluating preliminary design concepts and hosted public information meetings with interested residents, business owners, and commuters. In early 2020, a construction management contractor and final design team will be hired for executing the three-year construction project that will begin by fall 2022. When complete, the estimated $157 million project will increase capacity, improve overall traffic flow, and improve accessibility and safety. During the 2019 state legislative session, the city worked closely with leaders at the state Legislature to get the proper approvals for the local option sales tax that was supported by city voters in 2018. The local option sales tax was implemented in October and will be used to finance $35,000,000 of community recreational improvements known as the Active Elk River projects. As part of the Active Elk River projects, the city broke ground on a new multipurpose recreation facility. The 150,000 square foot facility will provide year-round ice, a synthetic turf field house, community event/banquet rooms, and dedicated senior citizen programming space. Also underway were improvements to Lion John Weicht Park which include two lighted ballfields, modern restrooms, and a picnic/concession pavilion. Implementation of the second of three phases of the Wayfinding Master Plan continued in 2019. Entrance monuments for city gateways were installed, along with directional signs, and informational kiosks. The wayfinding program ensures consistency and continuity for all city signage throughout the city. (3)