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RELEVANT LINKS: <br />! IV. Budget as a communication tool <br />2014 City councilrnembers, as policymakers, must understand budget documents. <br />Corporate Report to the <br />Community: City of And making a city budget understandable to citizens is not easy. <br />Bloomington. <br />The scope and complexity of city budgeting also makes citizen participation <br />Popular Annual financial i difficult; citizens may focus on one area and advocate for budget cuts or <br />Report: To the Community expenditures that are not fiscally prudent. Using the budget process and <br />City of Arden lii;ls, 2014. <br />product to communicate, showing what services resident tax dollars fund is <br />i one way to make budgeting meaningful for council members and residents. <br />An award was created to recognize government entities that extract <br />information from their CAFR to produce high quality annual financial <br />reports specifically designed to be readily accessible and easily <br />understandable to the general public and other interested parties without a <br />background in public finance. <br />A. Explain city financial conditions in budget <br />documents <br />Comprehensive Annuai Citizens have a sense of the current economy, but many people may not <br />Financial Repo -1 (CAFR) <br />2014, City of Richfield. understand how the state economy impacts city budgets. City <br />councilrnembers also need to look at the city budget in light of federal <br />economic conditions. In the budget documents, explain which of these state <br />and local challenges affects your city: <br />• The current low interest on bonds allowing refinancing and paying off <br />old bonds thus saving on interest payments. <br />• The cuts in aid from the state (local government aid), if any. <br />• Low interest rates on city investments. <br />• Rapidly increasing unpaid water and sewer charges. <br />• Foreclosures. <br />• Unemployment. <br />• Abandoned or vacant properties. <br />City budget documents build on the past year and project into the coming <br />year. Communicating an accurate picture of the city's financial condition <br />helps citizens and council develop strategies to sustain the city. <br />League of Minnesota Cities Handbook for Minneso`.a Cities 10/15/2015 <br />Municipal Budgeting Chapter 211 Page 10 <br />