Item 5B. General Fund Budget Discussion
Superintendent's Recommendation:
NO ACTION REQUIRED; THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Prepared By: Howard D. Koolick, Chief Financial Officer
Background:
At its most basic, a budget is a set of numbers that documents how the Park District will collect and spend money. When the budget is looked at deeper, it reflects the priorities and goals of the Park District and its plans to handle the challenges for the upcoming year.
The Park District uses these ten operating budgets to manage the Park District’s day to day operations:
- General Fund
- Scott-Three Rivers Partnership
- Hyland-Bush-Anderson Lakes Partnership
- Baker Golf
- Eagle Lake Golf
- Glen Lake Golf
- Parkers Lake Golf
- Hyland Greens Golf
- Hyland Hills Ski Area
- Equipment Internal Services
Building the budget is a joint effort of involving the Board of Commissioners, the Superintendent, and a variety of staff. Each of these groups plays a specific role in constructing the budget and the policy decisions that underlie it. The Board of Commissioners is responsible for approval of the budget and the goals and objectives supported by the budget.
A starting point for building the 2026 budget needs to be an understanding of the environment the Park District is operating in and what issues the District faces with both revenues and expenditures. Staff will be focusing primarily on the General Fund Budget but many of the issues will impact the other operating budgets as well.
Staff intends to review the following items with Commissioners:
- Basic Cost of Operating
- Employee Compensation and Benefits
- Supplies, Services and Other
- Equipment Internal Service Costs
- Property and Liability Insurance
- Property Taxes
- Park Use Fees
- State Revenues
- History of Minimum Fund Balance Policy
The first six items are discussed in the attached budget information. A separate report on the History of the Minimum Fund Balance will be distributed and discussed by staff at the meeting.
Relationship of Board Action to the Budget
The Park District's budget process is a six to eight month process that includes a number of steps and board actions to complete. The following graphic will be used to easily show how this board action fits into the budget process and where the District is in the process. The blue information on the timeline shows where we are in the budget process.
Relationship to the System Plan:
The Request for Action supports the following goal(s) of the System Plan:
Goal 2: Parks Matter
by ensuring the Park District's finances are properly managed and planned.
Attachments:
