2013 Budget Book - City of Greeley

Proud of Business
Developments
Economic development efforts are critical for Greeley. It is extremely important to
attract business with skilled labor jobs that pay competitive salaries.
North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley has been named among America’s top
2% of hospitals for the second year in a row (2011/2012) by Healthgrades; only
three hospitals statewide were recipients of this award. Greeley was also ranked
20 th on the Milken Institute’s 2009 Best Performing Cities Index.
Business development in 2011 and 2012 included Fiore Industrial Park, St.
Michael’s Kum & Go, Pioneer Press of Greeley, the Greeley Emergency Clinic @
NorthGate Village, remodeling of the old K-Mart building for Tele-Tech Call
Center, King Soopers Market Place, Noble Energy offices, Shneider Energy’s new
building, and new phases of construction at Leprino. Events slated to occur
during 2013 that will have a positive effect on our community are as follows:
construction of a Chick-fil-A restaurant, a new Panera Bread restaurant, a new
Goodwill, expansion of the JBS Beef Plant parking lot, a new Homewood Suites
Hotel, a new Candlewood Suites Hotel, and the construction of a new University
Middle School.
The City of Greeley continues to actively pursue businesses that will bring in
quality jobs and be good corporate citizens. There is definitely an emphasis on
attracting quality development. The issue will be financing infrastructure
improvements necessary to facilitate the “appeal” before the fees from the
development process are collected. For this reason the Capital Improvements
Plan has taken on an even greater importance.
BUDGET ASSUMPTIONS FOR 2013 AND 2014
General assumptions
2013 and 2014
Priorities
The initial planning stage of budget preparation involves evaluating the outside
forces that effect funding decisions: national, state, and local economic condition;
federal and state mandates; political environment; social environment; citizen
concerns; and outside agency collaboration opportunities. Based on the state of
the economy and response to incentives offered, the following assumptions were
made to guide the development of the budget:
• Sustained low-medium residential growth through 2015
• 1.5% population growth
• Increase in energy and fuel costs
• Unemployment rate of 8.5%
• 1.1% inflation rate increase
• Reduction in federal funding
Once these assumptions were developed, needs assessments were performed
informally to develop priorities for available resources in 2013 based on the
community’s needs. The following is a list of priorities for budget preparation:
• Image
• Economic Health & Development
• Safety
• Infrastructure & Growth.
The 2013 budget approved by City Council on December 4, 2012 encompasses
each of these priorities and addresses the goals of the community. It also
conforms to all federal, state, and local laws. City Council and city management
believe that the budget sets forth a financial plan for fiscal responsibility and
allocates the resources expected to be available to meet the needs of the citizens
of Greeley in the most cost effective method possible. In order to accomplish this
task, many issues were considered and many hours of deliberation were involved
refining budget requests.
Budget Transmittal Letter 14 City of Greeley, Colorado