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City Budget Memo Examples

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This memo is to serve as description of how the economy can impact projections related to revenues and expenditures in regards to the city budget. Several examples will be provided including explanations on why these items can have a tumultuous effect on the city budget. These examples include the effect property taxes and income taxes had on our fiscal stability as well as how even with proper accounting and financial reporting, the budget still fell victim to the economy. “Access to good financial information is essential to success in the policy and financial management arenas” (Bartle, Hildreth, Marlowe. P. 222). Proper accounting is the cornerstone to working towards a balanced budget. The CAFR (comprehensive annual financial report) …show more content…

For the example in this memo, I will be focusing on the funding of educational programs. As you are aware, 38% of the property taxes fund school programs such as athletics, arts, and all day kindergarten. Due to the great recession, property values here in the Knoxtown area were greatly affected and a majority of properties lost nearly 50% of their assessed value. A significant portion of our constituents also lost their homes. Due in some part to these two factors, our projected revenue was not met. The overall revenue for the city was down 42% resulting in a serious budget shortfall. The loss of these property taxes resulted in the cutting of many school programs. The children of our constituents not have fewer athletic and arts programs to choose from as well as eliminating full day kindergarten for the next term. If corrections to the budget are not made, some bus services and reduced lunch programs will also be eliminated. The unexpected closing of the local plant due to the downturn in the economy and the amount of layoffs as a result has reduced the amount of income tax collected in the city. Income taxes fund 23% of the projected budget revenues for police and fire services. The lowering of the available revenues from income tax for funding of police and fire services will have dire repercussions. The projected income for the fire department is greatly needed to replace the aging truck fleet. The loss of this income could result in loss of life because the city has insufficient fire trucks that operate

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