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City of Mansfield Annual Budget and Service Program Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Table of Contents

The City will establish user charges and fees at a level that attempts to recover the full cost of providing the service. User
fees, particularly utility rates, should identify the relative costs of service for different classes of customers. When possible,
utility rates should be designed to reduce peak (hourly and daily) demands on the utility systems.

The City will make every reasonable attempt to ensure accurate measurements of variables impacting taxes and fees
(such as verification of business sales tax payments, verification of appraisal district property values, and accuracy of water
meters).

The City will attempt to maximize the application of its financial resources by obtaining supplementary funding through
agreements with other public and private agencies for the provision of public services or the construction of capital
improvements.

The City will consider other market rates and charges levied by other public and private organizations for similar services
in establishing tax rates, fees, and charges.

When developing the annual budget, the Financial Services Department shall project revenues from every source based
on actual collections from the preceding year and estimated collections of the current fiscal year, while taking into
account known circumstances that will impact revenues for the new fiscal year. The revenue projections for each fund
should be made conservatively.

Operating Expenditure Policies

Operating expenditures shall be accounted, reported, and budgeted for in the following major categories: operating,
recurring expenditures including personnel services, supplies, maintenance, contractual services, and capital
replacement/lease. The annual budget shall appropriate sufficient funds for operating and recurring expenditures
necessary to maintain established quality and scope of City services.

The City will constantly examine the methods for providing public services in order to reduce operating, recurring
expenditures and/or enhance the quality and scope of public services with no increase in cost.

Personnel service expenditures will reflect the minimum staffing needed to provide established quality and scope of City
services. To attract and retain employees necessary for providing high-quality service, the City shall maintain a
compensation and benefit package competitive with the public and, when quantifiable, private service industries. Supply
expenditures shall be sufficient to ensure the optimal productivity of City employees.

Maintenance expenditures shall be sufficient for addressing the deterioration of the City’s capital assets to ensure the
optimal productivity of the capital assets. Maintenance should be conducted to ensure a relatively stable level of
expenditure for every budget year.

The City will utilize contract labor for the provision of City services whenever private contractors can perform the
established level of service at less expense. The City will regularly evaluate its agreements with private contractors to
ensure the established levels of service are performed at the least expense to the City.

Existing capital equipment shall be replaced when needed to ensure the optimal productivity of City employees. Existing
capital equipment associated with General Fund operations in excess of $10,000 will be charged to individual departments
that purchase those items.

Expenditures for additional capital equipment shall be made only to enhance employee productivity, improve quality of
service, or expand scope of service. To assist in controlling the growth of operating expenditures, operating departments
within the General Fund will submit their annual budgets to the City Manager within a ceiling calculated by the Budget
Office from the General Fund’s Long-Term Financial Plan. Projected expenditures that exceed the ceiling must be
submitted as separate expanded level of service requests.

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