Complete Document - City of Auburn

The City of AuburnDescription of the Budgetary SystemAuburn follows a comprehensivebudgeting process that is founded in the prioritiesset by the City Council and Auburn residents.One document that has served as a source ofAuburn’s long-term priorities is the City’scomprehensive plan, Auburn 2020. In 1980, theCity’s leaders decided to take a more systematicapproach to managing municipal affairs. Theyorganized a community-based process throughwhich many people examined Auburn’s problemsand potentials, and defined programs andprojects through which the problems could besolved and the potentials exploited. The result ofthis process was Auburn 2000, a plan that setforth goals, policies, and programs forencouraging and influencing positive change.Since their adoption, the City’s officials have usedthese goals, policies, and programs to guide theirdecisions.In May 1998, the City Council followed theAuburn 2000 process model and adopted Auburn2020, the document that sets forth suggestions andrecommendations on how to manage the inevitablechanges Auburn will face during the next twentyyears. As Auburn moves into the 21 st Century, wewill depend on the Auburn 2020 plan to guide thedecisions that will maintain the impetus for qualitygrowth that has occurred in the past decade. Themajor goals identified in Auburn 2020 arepresented later in this section.In the summer of 2000, the City Managerrecommended and the City Council approved achange from an annual budget to a two-year orbiennial budget for fiscal years 2001 and 2002. Theobjectives of a biennial budget process were twofold:to give the Council and City management alonger budgeting horizon and to reduce the amountof staff time required for developing and adjustingthe budget. Under the annual budgeting process,Auburn conducted a Mid-Year Budget Reviewprocess each April that was nearly as rigorous asthe budget development each summer. With aBiennial Budget, the Mid-Year Review will bestreamlined and there will be an in-depth Mid-Biennium Review.The City of Auburn’s budget processbegins in late winter with the annual Citizens’Survey. This process involves conductingtelephone interviews of approximately 600randomly selected Auburn residents. Based on athorough analysis of the citizens’ responses,rankings are given to the priorities. This survey isreviewed carefully by management and the CityCouncil, and is an influential element indiscussions as the City Council sets the prioritiesfor the upcoming fiscal year. More detailedinformation about the citizens’ survey is includedin this section of the budget document.In early spring, the City Manager holds theannual Budget Kick-Off meeting with thedepartment heads and distributes the budgetrequest forms and instructions. At this meeting,the City Manager gives the department heads anoverview of the expectations for the upcomingbudget: the prospects for revenue growth orborrowing proceeds to fund increasedexpenditures, the amounts needed to fund cost ofliving pay increases at various levels, the amountby which the School Board’s legislatedappropriation will increase, etc. An overridingbudgetary goal is to maintain salaries andbenefits costs at less than 50% of the GeneralFund’s budgeted expenditures.Department heads are required to justifyall budget requests, whether for personnel,services, commodities or equipment, specifyingthe expected cost savings, additional operatingand maintenance expenses, and budgetaryimpact. At the same time, the Finance Directorreviews current year revenues as well as revenuesources’ histories and develops forecasts for theupcoming fiscal year.The departmental goals are alsodeveloped during this time and are submitted to43