Complete Document - City of Auburn

City of AuburnFinancial OverviewThe City of Auburn’s financial outlook issignificantly and positively affected by severalfactors:♦ The economically stabilizing influence ofAuburn University, the State’s largestpublic university♦ The economic diversity being achievedthrough the City Industrial DevelopmentBoard’s and Economic DevelopmentDepartment’s efforts to attract financiallysound, small to medium-sized companiesthat employ moderately to highly skilledpersons in environmentally responsiblebusiness activities♦ The excellence of the Auburn CitySchools, which produces well-educatedand productive citizens and which hasattracted citizens whose jobs are not inAuburn, spurring residential and servicesector growth♦ The openness and the frequency of thecommunication between the Citygovernment and the citizens results inconsensus building and informeddecision-making♦ The City government’s successfulmanagement and fiscal practices thatenable the government to achieve itsnumerous goals for enhancing its citizens’“quality of life,” while maintaining aprudently conservative financial condition.The City government takes pride in thecontinuous and diligent efforts of itsemployees to find new and better ways toachieve improved results. Many of the City’supper and middle management employeeshave won national, regional and statewiderecognition for their professionalism andinnovation.Revenue Base – The FinancialFoundationAs is typical in the State of Alabama, City ofAuburn property taxes are relatively low andtherefore, are not the City’s primary revenuesource. Sales taxes are the primary revenuesource in the City’s General Fund, providingnearly 40% of revenue and about 35% oftotal General Fund resources. The secondlargest revenue source for the General Fundis the City’s occupation license fee, whichconsists of 1% of the gross salaries andwages earned within the City, and produces alittle less than 15% of General Fundrevenues. Business license fees provideanother 15% of revenue in the General Fund.Together, these three revenue sourcesprovide approximately 70% of the funds tofinance the City services provided by theGeneral Fund. All three of these revenuesources can be increased by a vote of theCity Council without a citizens’ referendum.Property tax increases are governed by theState Constitution and do require approvalfrom the taxpayers. While property taxincreases are often denied by voters,Auburn’s university-based population hashistorically approved the conservativeproperty tax increases proposed by theCouncil and the City’s Board of Education.This gives the City Council a great deal offlexibility to provide the financial resourcesneeded to finance municipal services, withinthe confines of political realities.Growth in the City’s sales tax revenue hasmirrored the measured, steady expansion ofthe City’s economic base. Over the past tenyears, sales tax revenue has grown anaverage of 8.2% per year. Sales tax revenue37