Page 59 - Southlake FY20 Budget

Budget 101

• Economic Development Investment Fund:
The Southlake 2030 Economic Development & Tourism Strategic Plan includes the following as recommendation
4.3: “Southlake should establish a fund to use to attract and retain employers, as well as to help retain and expand
existing businesses.” This fund was created in 2013 for that purpose.

• Facility Maintenance Reserve
The purpose of this fund is to build capacity for future maintenance projects as we will have many needs to
address as our facilities age. The Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF) has provided seed money for this fund, an important
element of our budget given the size and complexity of the City’s facility infrastructure. For the upcoming fiscal
year, we will continue our practice of transferring SIF money into this fund, but we are also budgeting expenses in
the operating budget for facility projects.

• Technology Infrastructure & Security Fund
The Technology Infrastructure and Security Fund was created in FY 2017 to build capacity for current and future
technology needs. Expenditures in this fund are used to maintain, enhance and replace technology infrastructure
and enterprise software to ensure the City receives the most reliable and best value with technology investments.
In order to keep up with the increasing number and complexity of security threats, this fund also supports
technology security projects and programs.

• Utility Fund:
The Utility Fund is an enterprise or business fund. This means that the direct beneficiaries of the “business” pay
for all costs through fees or rates. Water, sewer service, and solid waste service revenues generated through
our rates, as well as the expenses for providing these services are accounted for in the Utility Fund. As with the
General Fund, prudent financial management and bond requirements make it necessary to have healthy reserves.
Rather than stating the reserves as a percentage of operating expenses, it is stated as days of working capital. It is
our goal to have no less than 60 days of working capital on hand.

• Vehicle Replacement Fund:
This fund accounts for the resources needed to manage the purchase of vehicles for the City’s fleet. The
establishment and funding of the vehicle replacement program was designed to even out expenses for the City’s
fleet from year to year and provide a logical method for purchasing and retiring vehicles.

• Debt Service Fund:
Although the Strategic Initiative Fund provides cash for pay-as-you-go capital projects, the City still must borrow to
build needed infrastructure. As mentioned, a portion of the revenue generated by the property tax rate is allocated to
support long-term bond projects through the Debt Service Fund. This budget proposes that ten cents of the current tax
rate be allocated to support the City’s debt. A Capital Improvements Program (CIP) details the projects and costs for a
five-year period and identifies future unfunded projects. The Debt Service Fund provides the needed money to build
these projects.

• Special Revenue Funds:
These funds are general government funds where the source of revenue is dedicated to a specific purpose:

• Commercial Vehicle Enforcement
This fund accounts for fines collected from commercial vehicle violations. Use of these funds is restricted for
commercial vehicle enforcement, per State law.

58 www.CityofSouthlake.com