25LINKBUDGET(FULL) - Flipbook - Page 16
City of Plymouth 2024 / 2025 Budget
this budget and beyond, the cost of the court may have significant impact on local budgets as the
court will merely present their budget deficit and put it on the shoulders of the five local units to
fund. Further, the state is considering legislation to not allow courts to use fines to pay their
expenses. There is also legislation to have the state take over the court system statewide.
We also must be aware that significant changes in the stock market will impact our legacy costs.
When I wrote this message in April 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 24,345. In
March of 2022 the market closed at 35,228. Today, (03-28-24) the market is at 39,760 up over four
hundred points at closing. We are hopeful that an increasing stock market will positively impact
our MERS actuarial accounts for those former employees who are on the old defined benefit
program. However, a downward trend or recession will decrease stock market values and
increase our costs to fund the old Defined Benefit Programs. You will recall that the Defined
Benefit program was eliminated 25 years ago as the city broke away from the old governmental
model of doing business.
We have been frugal with expenses over time, and we have lived within our means despite
challenges and additional regulations from the state and federal governments, along with the
impacts of Covid and high inflation. One area that the City Commission has given priority to is
upgrading our vehicle fleet, and we made several purchases during the last year. However, we
still have significant needs in vehicle and equipment replacement. We must also be aware of
rapidly increasing vehicle costs. In 2008, we purchased police vehicles for $33,000, in 2022 the
price had jumped to $38,700 and now in 2024, we have vehicles on order for $52,200 for the same
type of vehicle we purchased in 2008. Escalating vehicle costs and how to update how we
amortize those expenses has been a topic of the City Manager group (MME) in recent weeks. We
will need to closely monitor the Equipment Fund to ensure that we are rebuilding the Fund for
the future, as well as meeting current expenses.
We have limited capital purchases for a number of years, and we attempt to put as much as we
can into selected projects. Our proposed budget has projects that have been delayed due to lack
of funding.
We are a $30-million-plus corporation, and we have a very lean organization. This has reduced
our overhead costs, but it has also put greater stress on our employees as they do multiple jobs.
We have made changes in our structure to make our community more desirable to come to work
for and work at. In addition, we have had to respond to staffing challenges when any of our staff
is off for extended periods of time due to medical or other issues. The City Commission has placed
a priority on succession planning and that has helped to ease the overall balance of the
organization.
While we are a lean organization, we work with a strong customer service philosophy, and we try
to get to “yes.” There are times when we cannot get to an agreement on a particular manner, but
the staff does put extra time and effort to get to at least a partial “yes,” when possible. However,
even with limited staff we are still able to try new programs and we are provided the flexibility to
handle customer service issues as they arise.
Again, in the proposed budget we have attempted as much as possible to maintain service levels
and to address higher costs for vendor services and the former defined benefit retirement plan,
while providing a safe, clean community that delivers on the vision of the strategic plan. The
inflation rates impact our operations. Something as simple as the cost of gasoline has an impact
on our ability to maintain our budget. We anticipate that we will continue to see increases in the
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