25LINKBUDGET(FULL) - Flipbook - Page 25
City of Plymouth 2024 / 2025 Budget
Executive Summary
Demystifying the Detail
General
This 200-page budget document can be a bewildering description of the annual financial plan
of funding City operations for the upcoming fiscal year. The document's structure, particularly
its numerical sections, conforms to the stipulations outlined in federal and state laws, as well
as our City Charter. However, despite the necessity of this format dictated by legal and
charter requirements, comprehending and navigating through the document remains
challenging.
In addition to adhering to legal mandates, the budget must also comply with national
accounting standards and public acts governing budgetary practices. It is natural for users of
this document to seek more detailed financial information relevant to their interests. However,
accommodating such requests over time leads to an increase in document complexity,
making it progressively less user-friendly. The inclusion of excessive budgetary details often
results in readers becoming overwhelmed by minutiae, obscuring the overarching objectives
that the budget aims to communicate.
To address these concerns, an Executive Summary has been crafted to simplify the intricacy
by condensing revenues and expenditures into a one-page numerical summary. This concise
overview allows for a clearer understanding of the City’s financial standing. However, it is
acknowledged that without magnification, the readability of the consolidated format may
suffer.
The summary presentation of revenues and expenditures for the upcoming 2024/25 fiscal
year is provided numerically on page 27, with the fund balance breakdown beginning on
page 28. These numerical totals on page 27 represent a summation of the more detailed lineitem budget information contained within pages 125 through 196. Additionally, page 32
highlights the General Fund of the City, which serves as the largest operating fund and is
commonly referenced for financial information pertaining to the City. Revenues are presented
at the top of the page, grouped by revenue classification, while expenditures are listed at the
bottom, categorized by department.
The City has ten Special Revenue funds, four active Debt Service funds, five Capital Project
funds, one Enterprise fund, one Internal Service fund, and four Tax Increment Financing
Authority funds. Among these, the General Fund and Special Revenue funds are considered
operating funds of the City, while Debt Service funds are typically tied to corresponding
Capital Project funds. The Enterprise fund is dedicated to the City’s water and sewer
operations, while the Internal Service fund is commonly known as the Equipment Fund.
Finally, the Tax Increment Financing Authority (TIFA) funds support the City’s Downtown
Development Authority (DDA) and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) operations.
Reviewing page 25 provides a markedly different perspective on City finances compared to
delving into 70 pages of intricate columns and numerical lines. For instance, as previously
mentioned, municipal budget reporting often centers solely on the General Fund, detailed on
page 31 at $11,556,770. However, this report reveals that the total City budget for 2024/25
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