the municipal secretary desktop reference manual - Southwestern ...

DO update the capital plan annually
DON'T use debt financing to pay for current expenditures
DO budget for the adequate maintenance of capital plant and equipment and for their
orderly replacement
DO maintain a budgetary control system to facilitate adherence to the budget
DO periodically determine the most cost effective modes for delivering various public
services
DO project revenues and expenditures for the next five years and update these projections
annually
Revenue Policy
DON'T levy an inefficient tax - one that is difficult and expensive to collect
DO maintain tax and service charge roles based upon a master housing and business
directory created by the municipality
DO audit randomly selected non-real property tax returns to determine their correctness
DO revise fees and charges with review of the governing board to adjust for the effects of
inflation and cost increases
DO establish all user charges and fees at levels related to the costs of providing the services
DO follow an aggressive policy of collecting and enforcing the payment of all tax and
utility revenues
DO establish a permanent commission to monitor revenue yields and to make
recommendations to improve these yields
DO make a cash-flow analysis of all funds on a regular basis to determine cash availability
DO invest temporarily idle money
DO pool money for investing but DON'T co-mingle it
DO make certain that the earned income or other non-property tax collector is a collector,
not a receiver
DO check the real estate assessments as furnished by the appropriate county official to
ensure all properties are shown
VIII-6