Page 60 - Ord 866 Adopting a revised Fiscal Year 17-18 and new proposed Fiscal Year 18-19 budget

Section 2 Financial Analysis
Budget 101 Overview

The Town of Westlake staff is pleased to present the annual operating budget, which is the
product of many hours of preparation as well as a response to ever-changing internal and
external influences. The Town of Westlake’ s fiscal year begins on October 1, and ends on
September 30. It provides the framework to implement the Town’ s vision, mission and value
statements as set out by the Town Council.

LAYOUT AND ORGANIZATION

The budget is designed to help the reader locate both financial and non-financial information in
a timely fashion.

The Fund Sections are broken down between General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Debt
Service Fund, Enterprise Funds, Internal Service Funds, Capital Projects Fund, and Westlake
Academy Fund. Each Fund contains the following information:
Fund Overview” describing the function of the fund and explaining the variances
between the revenues and expenditures.
Program Summary” of revenues and expenditures.

Also included are sections detailing the Capital Improvement Plan, Long- Term Planning, Fiscal
and Budgetary Policy, Investment Policy, Strategic Plan and the Town ordinance related to the
adoption of the budget ( after adoption).

BUDGET PREPARATION
As in previous years, efforts have been made to control expenditures while continuing to deliver
an excellent level of service to our citizens. Concentrated efforts have been made to produce
a document that clearly illustrates the uses of Town resources in a format that may be utilized as
a resource tool by the Town Council, Town staff, and the citizens of Westlake. Our budget
preparation process continues to be refined on an annual basis, operating within clearly defined
budget preparation guidelines.

Budgeting is an essential element of the financial planning, control and evaluation process of
municipal government. The “ operating budget” is the Town’ s annual financial operating plan.
The budget includes all the operating departments of the Town, the debt service fund, all
capital projects funds, and the internal service funds of the Town. The proposed budget will be
prepared with the cooperation of all Town departments, and is submitted to the Town Manager
who makes any necessary changes and transmits the document to the Town Council. A budget
preparation calendar and timetable will be established and followed in accordance with State
law.

A “bottom- up” approach is used to solicit input from the staff Leadership Team as to their
operations’ needs with an emphasis on:
Identifying costs to provide the current level of services.
Identifies additional cost increases needed to maintain the current level of service.
Additional resources necessary to provide new or increased levels of service.
Delineating changes in fund balance levels for each fund.

46