Page 146 - Haltom City FY20 Approved Budget

City of Haltom City Annual Budget, FY 2020
Supplemental Information

budgetary control of cash expenditures. Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
(GAAP), these items will be reported as additions to capitalized assets and as a reduction
of a liability, respectively. Certain accounting adjustments based on GAAP will be applied
when the City closes its books for the year but these types of adjustments are not part of
the budget presentation. The application of GAAP forms the basis of accounting for the
city using the cash, accrual, and modified accrual methods of revenue and expenditure
measurement. Where applicable, the effect of these end-of-year adjustments for
historical data has been reversed to maintain the cash basis of budgeting consistently
throughout the document.

CITY OF HALTOM CITY
BUDGET PROCESS AND LONG-TERM PLANNING

Overview

The Charter of Haltom City specifies that an Operating Budget be adopted prior to the
first day of the fiscal year beginning October 1st. The City’s budget preparation process
is a seven-month cycle, which begins in mid-February and ends in mid-September. The
City Council, management, departments, and the public have opportunities to participate
in the preparation of the budget at various stages in the process. Throughout the process,
the City Manager presents reports delineating particular areas of concern to the Council.
The Council provides the direction and guidance necessary to implement the goals and
objectives of the City.

Preparation of the Operating Budget

In Early Spring, the Finance Department distributes a budget preparation manual for the
upcoming fiscal year. Departments submit budget proposals. During the months of May,
June, and July, the City Manager develops the recommended budget based on the policy
direction received from Council. The City’s Charter requires that the proposed budget be
submitted to the Council at least forty-five (45) days prior to the beginning of the fiscal
year. This submission normally occurs during mid-July followed by a series of public
budget work sessions between July and August. The first and second readings of the
budget ordinance occur at the council meetings in August and September. If the city
council fails to adopt a budget in final form before the first day of the fiscal year, the city
charter requires that the budget proposed by the City Manager shall be deemed to have
been adopted.

In preparation of the proposed budget, each department develops measures, objectives
and details accomplishments for use in the budget. By identifying the goals of the
department and compiling past and current workload statistics, the department is able to
determine early in the budget process which areas will require future resource
adjustments. Departments prepare base budget requests to continue the current level of
service. Any new projects that the department wants considered for funding are
submitted as prioritized budgetary items. The department must also submit a prioritized

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