FY 2026 Adopted Budget - Flipbook - Page 104
Enterprise Fund by $181,023 or 23%. Operating supplies and services are budgeted based on
necessity with the escalated 2.9% Consumer Price Index (December 2024) taken into consideration.
There has been a decrease in expenditures for capital improvement projects in FY 2025/26,
especially in the Water & Sewer Replacement & Renewal Fund now that the Bates Ave WWTP
expansion project has been completed. The detailed expenditures related to operating costs are
reflected in the individual department pages by fund.
The City is required to fund the CRA for the increase in Tax Increment Funding each year as
mandated by State of Florida CRA Statutes. The estimated transfer will be $970,755 (Community
Redevelopment Summary, page 244), based on taxable values as provided by the Lake County
Property Appraiser’s Office.
Financial Policies
This section describes the major financial policies that affect the City’s long-term financial planning
and budgeting processes. The City’s financial policies serve to match spending needs with available
resources. The annual budget is prepared as a balanced budget, with total revenues and other
financing sources equaling total expenditures/expenses and other financing uses for each fund. Any
shortfalls of current revenue sources matched against anticipated expenditures are supplemented
with a reduction in the existing fund balance.
The use of fund balance to balance a fund’s budget makes a fund balance reserve policy an important
planning and budgeting tool. Large-scale capital project spending needs and fluctuating interest
rates make debt management a closely watched financial policy issue. Investing the City’s financial
resources so that the funds’ values keep pace with rising costs is aggressively administered.
Operating Policies:
The City will develop and maintain accounting and budgetary control systems to adequately safeguard the assets being held in public trust.
The City will limit current expenditures to match against currently anticipated revenues. The City
will avoid balancing current operating expenditures with borrowed revenues.
The City will provide for adequate maintenance of capital, plant, and equipment and for their orderly
replacement.
The City will balance its budget year so that each fund’s budgeted revenues equal the budgeted
expenditures. The utilization of the existing fund balance as a revenue source to meet current needs
will be minimized as much as possible.
Revenue Policies:
The City shall maintain, as permitted by State law, a diversified revenue base to offset the effects of
short-term fluctuations in any one revenue source and reduce reliance on any one revenue source.
This City shall estimate its annual revenues as part of the budgetary process through a conservative,
objective, and analytical process. It will review and evaluate new revenue sources to fund operating
expenditures consistently with the City Commission’s goals and objectives.
The City shall establish all user charges and fees to recover all or a portion of the cost of providing
a service. The City shall review user fees/charges periodically to ensure they are fair and equitable
to all users.
The City shall transfer a portion of the budgeted operating revenue from the Water and Sewer Utility
Revenue Fund to the General Fund as a return on the City’s investment in the utility infrastructure
and for administrative purposes.
Fund Balance Policy
The City has established a Fund Balance Policy in accordance with Governmental Accounting
Standards Board Statement No. 54, Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type
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