Town of Yountville Financial Policies


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Revenue

  • The Town recognizes that its primary revenue sources are locally generated, especially TOT and sales tax revenue, and for the most part this revenue is largely generated by non-residents. Efforts to ensure continued reliability in these revenue sources must be maintained and to develop and diversify other revenue sources as applicable.
  • The Town will actively establish a practice of monitoring, auditing and collecting all locally generated taxes.
  • The Town will establish and maintain all user fees and charges based on the cost of providing services and shall establish, where appropriate, a cost recovery target for those programs which are subsidized by General Fund revenues. The Town will review and update, as appropriate, the Master Fee Schedule annually at the beginning of the budget development cycle.

Budgeting and Expenditures

  • The Town Council shall adopt an annual balanced budget effective from July 1 to June 30 each fiscal year. A balanced budget requires current year operating expenses and transfers for debt service and capital expenditures to be fully funded by current year revenues and other designated available funding sources.
  • Fund Balance Reserves will be used only for non-recurring “one-time” and capital projects and not for on-going operations. The use of reserves must be approved by Town Council.
  • Use of long-term debt shall be limited to capital projects or special projects that cannot be financed from current revenues.
  • The Town Manager is authorized to implement the programs as approved in the adopted budget. Within a specific fund the Town Manager may transfer appropriations between categories, departments, projects and programs as needed to implement the adopted budget, as long as it does not increase the full time equivalent (FTE) personnel, increase overall appropriations, or decrease appropriations for capital outlay.
  • Personnel costs (salaries and benefits) will be budgeted in the Town’s primary operating funds: General Fund, Water Enterprise and Wastewater Enterprise.
  • The annual budget will include a nominal $45,000 Designated Contingency for non-recurring, unanticipated expenditures. The Town Manager may approve expenditures from this contingency if needed during the fiscal year. The contingency will be transferred to the appropriate account to fund the approved expenditures.
  • A capital outlay (fixed asset) purchase will be any single item or piece of equipment which costs more than $10,000 and has an expected useful life exceeding one year.
  • Regular budget reports and updates shall be presented to the Town Council to provide information on the status of the Town’s financial condition. Budget adjustments may be made during the year by Council resolution if necessary to reflect changes to revenues and/or expenditure projections.
  • The Town shall post on its website current budget reports and updates, sales tax and TOT reports and other financial information for the public to review.

Capital Improvements

  • Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects will be funded by the following revenue sources:
    • Available General Fund Reserves
    • Available Capital Project Fund balances
    • Impact Fee Fund balances
    • Water and Wastewater revenues (for Water and Wastewater projects)
    • Grant fundings
    • Other State and Federal funding sources as available
  • The Town will annually develop and update a multi-year plan for capital improvements. Future capital expenditures will be projected annually for a rolling 5-year period based on projections of available funding, changes in the community and needed replacement of infrastructure.
  • The Town will coordinate development of the Five Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) in advance of the development of the operating budget.
  • The annual funding for the current year of the Capital Improvement Plan shall be approved as part of the operating budget. Budgets are approved by project with the understanding that projects may span fiscal years and the appropriations will carry forward to the following fiscal year; the amounts carried forward will be shown in the budget for information and transparency.
  • Capital projects financed by bonds or other debt instruments shall be paid back within a period not to exceed the useful life of the project.
  • The Town Manager is authorized to implement the projects as approved in the adopted Capital Improvement Program. Within a specific fund, the Town Manager may transfer appropriations between projects as needed to implement the adopted Capital Improvement Program.