Finance - Budget Reporting

Message from the City Manager

by Roy H. Otto, Greeley City Manager

In July I asked for citizen input on how we might cut City expenditures to balance the 2010 budget. Numerous residents shared a wide range of ideas with me - from cutting back on police services to turning off the lights at night. These suggestions were much appreciated, because in this situation there is no "silver bullet" - it'll take a multitude of strategies, large and small, to meet the anticipated shortfalls.

In mid-August we saw the to-date 2009 sales tax revenue reports, and the picture is not pretty; revenue was down even further than expected. We now face a projected $7.8 million shortfall in 2010 up from the $5 million estimated earlier this year. Greeley, like most other Colorado communities, relies on sales tax revenue to support day-to-day operations, which means these shortfalls will further affect staff and erode services. Additional service cuts will be necessary, because by law, the City must operate with a balanced budget.

Although no layoffs were required to balance the 2010 budget, 35.5 FTEs have been eliminated in the 2010 budget through attrition and early retirements. The total FTEs removed since 2006 is 86 while during the same time period 19.25 FTEs were added including 8 police officers and 4.25 FTEs for the 34 Xpress transit bus route. The City and Union Colony Fire Rescue Authority have a combined FTE decrease of 66.75 FTEs from 2006-2010.

The 2010 proposed budget was presented at the October 6th Council meeting. On October 20th we will be asking for additional input from residents at the budget public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m at 919 7th Street. You can see these meetings live and the rebroadcasts on GTV8 and you can view online the capital improvement plan and the proposed operations budget in either a summary or detail format. You may also view a bullet point list of the service level changes that are in the proposed budget. (Updated 10/7/09)

2009 Budget

The 2009 Budget was approved by City Council on December 2, 2008, appropriating $189,727,426 for expenditures and $70,790,407 for transfers between funds; a total of $260,517,833. The 2009 appropriation is a 5.2% decrease (excluding transfers) from the 2008 Revised Budget. The operating budget places a priority on existing programs to insure that the city is able to maintain an excellent level of service and address the overall needs of the community.

Revenue growth for the City is projected to be minimal with estimated revenues for 2009 projected to grow 2.6% over 2008 estimated revenues and 1.7% over 2007 actual revenue. This trend is not unique to Greeley as most communities in Colorado are facing the same issues in balancing their budget. Staff is to be commended for their dedication in creating a balanced budget while still maintaining the quality of life that makes Greeley "Great From the Ground Up."

The complete 2009/2010 budget document and a summary of the 2009/2010 budget are available for viewing; individual sections are listed below for your convenience. To view the files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5 or higher, as the files are in Adobe PDF file format.

If you have any questions concerning the budget, please contact Sheri Dern, Budget Analyst, at sheri.dern@greeleygov.com or (970) 350-9735.

2009/2010 Biennial Budget

-Table of Contents

-City Manager’s Message

- Reader’s Guide

- Budget Overview

- Revenue Summary

- Expenditure Summary

- Personnel Summaries

- Fund Summaries

-General Fund

-Special Revenue Funds

-Debt Service Funds