By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Nephi City's budget serves as a work plan for the City
during each fiscal year, July 1 through June 30.
Nevertheless, Nephi is just beginning the budget process
for the coming fiscal year which will cover the years of
July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007.
Randy McKnight, city administrator, presented city
council members with a proposed budget for the coming year.
However, the budget was extremely tentative, he said.
"The level of certainty for this budget is fairly low,"
said McKnight. "This just begins the process."
Mark Jones, mayor, said that the budget needed to be
adopted by June 22 by state statute.
"State statute also requires that the first council
meeting in May should address the tentative budget for the
year," said Jones.
McKnight said that the process of setting a budget for
the year was just beginning in Nephi City though in some
cities in the state the process was nearing completion.
Each year the budget officer, who is McKnight, meets with
the city council and reviews budget goals, policy statements
and guidelines.
The budget officer is then responsible for the
preparation of a tentative budget for all budgetary funds
according to procedures and requirements established by the
Uniform Fiscal Procedures Act for Utah Cities.
"Presentation of a tentative budget is part of the
overall budget process," said McKnight.
The budget is more than just a series of columns for
revenues and expenditures because it reflects the wide
variety of services and programs that are important to the
people who live in a community.
The budget adopted in June each year includes operating
budgets for each department and the capital budget for the
fiscal year.
The Mayor, under state law and city ordinance, has the
responsibility to prepare a tentative budget and submit it
to the Council at the first meeting of the municipal council
in May of each year.
"This tentative budget is a beginning place," said
McKnight. "All of you (council members) should take the
budget home and look it over."
"We will have many more discussions on the budget before
it is finalized," said McKnight.
He said there will now be a series of budget meetings
with city departments to review the recommended
budgets.
State law designates that between early May and mid-June,
city councils must consider budget issues and, by June 22,
approve a final budget.
City budgets reflect the constant challenge to
balance service demands with the ability of the
taxpayers to pay for local government, and it recognizes the
values and needs of employees and their role in the
efficient delivery of services.
The budget expresses in financial terms the basic service
requirements to meet the human and physical needs of the
citizens.
In Nephi, McKnight, as city administrator functions as
the budget officer as designated in the Uniform Fiscal
Procedures Act for Utah Cities.
"We have met state statute which requires that, by the
first council meeting in May, the budget officer present to
the governing body a tentative budget for the coming fiscal
year," said McKnight.
State law also requires the city budget officer follow
all fiscal budgetary controls as established by resolution
or ordinance of the city council. Such controls include but
are not limited to purchasing policies and procedures and
personnel policies.
Under the direction of the city administrator, the
finance director, Blair Painter, city recorder, prepares and
presents to the city council monthly summary financial
reports and quarterly detailed interim financial reports,
prepared in a manner consistent with the Uniform Accounting
Manual for Utah Cities.
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