Page 52 - CityofMansfieldFY23Budget

the rating committee chairs who evaluate the City’s credit. The agencies consider
management of the City to be strong, as evidenced by our ratings.

Fiscal Policy is Measured

Each year in evaluating the Strategic Plan, Management considers its guiding policy by
monitoring indices that encourage good fiscal health. These indices also alert
Management of potential fiscal distress, stress, or variances from the City’s guiding fiscal
policy of letting “Growth Pay for Growth.” Key indices include debt ratios, coverage
requirements and cash reserve requirements. Debt ratios are evaluated before the issuance
of debt or additional borrowings; coverage requirements or the percentage of earnings
above annual debt payments; and solvency is monitored and measured annually to the
wealth of the community and the service needs of the citizens. If these indices get too
low or too high, Management acts to restore these indices to their normal levels.

Strategic Plan

The Plan has been designed to meet the current and future service demands of the
community based upon current management practices and current funding provisions of
existing programs. It allows for the expected or projected service needs of the community
for the next ten fiscal years, 2023-2032. The service needs include the Capital
Improvement Programs, Operating and Capital Equipment Programs, employee
recruitment programs, and expansion of existing programs. Major divisions and
departments have provided input and a needs assessment for the expected service level
requirements into the future.

The Plan is designed for continuous adjusting based on economic variables and local
activity drivers that affect the service requirements. It provides for a degree of certainty
in setting expectations for future spending and is expressive in its intent of future
spending patterns but is not to be construed as the final funding authority for future
programs, future indebtedness or commitments to any program, vendor, stakeholder, or
other interested party of the City as occurrences in the development of the City may alter
or change the priority of funding needed to service the City.

Financial Forecast and Projections

The Strategic Plan is a planning tool used to guide and address these demands for funding
while identifying potential stress points or weaknesses in the services being provided by
the City. It is also designed to steer the City clear of fiscal distress or warn Management
of potential fiscal stress when assuming certain assumptions in spending patterns,
inflationary provisions, legislative mandates, infrastructure programs, and recruitment
and retention programs. It also encourages the City to think into the future and in so
doing, it encourages program managers to anticipate the future costs of future populations
as well as current populations, while providing for the financial stability of the
community by projecting the future costs of City services.

51