Page 50 - City of Bedford FY20 Approved Budget

range of comparable cities and should be adequate to produce the revenues needed to pay for
approved City services.

The adopted tax rate should not exceed the rollback rate as computed by Truth in Taxation laws.
Property tax revenues will be estimated based on the actual percentage of collections for the
prior year, net of any unusual or non-recurring activity.

SALES TAX. Sales tax revenue projections shall be conservative due to the volatile nature of
this economically sensitive revenue source.

USER-BASED FEES. For services associated with a user fee or charge, the direct and indirect
costs of that service will be offset by a fee where possible. There will be a periodic review of
fees and charges to ensure that fees provide adequate coverage of costs of services.

UTILITY RATES. The City will review and adopt utility rates periodically that will generate
revenues required to fully cover operating expenditures, meet the legal restrictions of all
applicable bond covenants, and provide for an adequate level of working capital needs. Rates
will be structured in order to generate 75% of the fixed cost of operating the utility system from
the minimum monthly service charges, and 25% of fixed cost from consumption charges. This
policy does not preclude drawing down cash balances to finance current operations; however, it
is best that any extra cash balance be used instead to finance capital projects.

Components of the Utility Rates will include a transfer to the General Fund for an administrative
fee for services of general overhead, such as administration, finance, personnel and data
processing. This fee will be documented annually through a cost allocation procedure.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUES. The reliance placed on intergovernmental revenues
will be eliminated. Any potential grants will be examined for matching requirements.

V. EXPENDITURE CONTROL

APPROPRIATIONS. The level of budgetary control is the Department level budget in the
Governmental and Proprietary Funds, and the Fund level in all other funds. Budget
appropriation amendments at lower levels shall be made in accordance with applicable
administrative procedures.

PURCHASING. All City purchases and contracts shall conform to the City Purchasing Policy.

PROMPT PAYMENT. All invoices approved for payment by the proper City authorities shall
be paid by the Finance Division according to state law. The Director of Administrative Services
shall establish and maintain proper procedures which will enable the City to take advantage of all
purchase discounts, when possible, except in the instance where payments can be reasonably and
legally delayed in order to maximize the City’s investable cash.

RISK MANAGEMENT. The City will aggressively pursue every opportunity to provide for
the Public’s and City employees safety and to minimize the risk of loss of resources through

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