Fairhope, Alabama
NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET
Mayor Kant called for the city's standing finance committee (consisting of city council members) to meet soon to begin considering next year's budget (beginning Oct 1, 2013).
Kant: "We have a lot of capital project needs ... June's coming real quick ... need input from council."
Kant said he thought it was important to have a meeting just for finances to brainstorm as a whole committee "which direction we want to go."
(The council decided not to appoint a Financial Advisory or Budget Committee as was done the past 4 years.)
BURRELL WANTS 20 YEAR PLAN
Council President Burrell said he would like to see a long range 15-20 year financial plan for the city, in addition to a shorter 5 year plan, with special emphasis on debt reduction.
Burrell: "Put it in writing ... if you don't put it in writing, you're not going to reach your goals ... where do we want to be .... where do we want our debt to be ... in 20 years."
Mayor Kant said that planning more than 5 years in advance is problematic -- since elections are held every 4 years and spending priorities change.
Burrell: "Isn't the problem in Washington ... everybody has a plan for what they're going to do ... in their four or six year terms ... ?"
Kant agreed: " Every time a new Congress comes in ... they throw it (plan) into the trash and start over."
The last 5 year plan was completed in 2010 (click).
Burrell made additional comments later:
Mayor Kant called for the city's standing finance committee (consisting of city council members) to meet soon to begin considering next year's budget (beginning Oct 1, 2013).
Kant: "We have a lot of capital project needs ... June's coming real quick ... need input from council."
Kant said he thought it was important to have a meeting just for finances to brainstorm as a whole committee "which direction we want to go."
(The council decided not to appoint a Financial Advisory or Budget Committee as was done the past 4 years.)
BURRELL WANTS 20 YEAR PLAN
Council President Burrell said he would like to see a long range 15-20 year financial plan for the city, in addition to a shorter 5 year plan, with special emphasis on debt reduction.
Burrell: "Put it in writing ... if you don't put it in writing, you're not going to reach your goals ... where do we want to be .... where do we want our debt to be ... in 20 years."
Mayor Kant said that planning more than 5 years in advance is problematic -- since elections are held every 4 years and spending priorities change.
Burrell: "Isn't the problem in Washington ... everybody has a plan for what they're going to do ... in their four or six year terms ... ?"
Kant agreed: " Every time a new Congress comes in ... they throw it (plan) into the trash and start over."
The last 5 year plan was completed in 2010 (click).
Burrell made additional comments later:
"I think it is wise to not only have an annual budget, but to have a 5-year, as well as, a 15 to 20-year financial plan. While realizing Fairhope’s elected officials can change every four years, there are certain items such as the forty plus millions of dollars in debt we should address long-term. This debt cannot reasonably be expected to be paid off in even five to ten years, but if we don’t have a rough idea as to how we will deal with this over the next fifteen to twenty years, I feel we are doing future generations a disservice. We currently have one percent of the two-percent sales tax dedicated to debt reduction (provided we have met our rainy day fund goal of $7M), however, as we lower the debt, the money saved in reduced servicing of that debt needs to be used prudently. Spending priorities may and will change, however, we should still be able to look at big picture items now."
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