Municipal Finance Best Practices
- City, Town and District Reserve Funds (PDF)
- Enterprise Funds: Overview and Best Practices (Video)
- Preparing the Budget Document (Video) This video describes the process for creating a municipal budget document, including the key components and suggested format.
- Reconciling Cash and Receivables (PDF)
- Revenue and Appropriation Deficits (PDF)
- Stabilization Funds: Overview and Best Practices (Video)
- The Importance of Annual Municipal Audits (PDF)
- The Importance of the Treasurer's Cash Book (PDF)
- The Overlay Reserve Account: Allowances for Abatements and Exemptions (Video)
- Understanding Municipal Debt (PDF)
- Webinar: Yarmouth Tax Rate Recap Process Webinar (Video)
In this webinar, the town of Yarmouth’s financial management team highlights how collaboration amongst staff has resulted in a streamlines tax rate recap process. In addition, you can reference DLS’ Budget and Tax Rate Planning Tool (Excel), which the team Yarmouth uses as part of their automated process.- Webinar Slides (PDF)
Using Financial Indicators to Analyze Fiscal Health
View the videos below to learn how local financial and demographic data can be used to indicate the status of a municipality’s fiscal health. This analysis can be helpful during the budget preparation process to build a clearer picture of financial trends and how your community arrived at its present financial condition.
- Debt Service (Video)
- Introduction: Financial Indicators (Video)
- Long-Term Debt (Video)
- Net Operating Revenue (Video)
- Operating Expenditures (Video)
- Pension Liability (Video)
- Personnel Costs (Video)
- Population & Enrollment (Video)
- Property Tax Revenue (Video)
- Reserves (Video)
- Revenues Related to Economic Growth (Video)
- State Aid as a Percentage of Operating Revenue (Video)
- Uncollected Property Taxes as a Percentage of Tax Levy (Video)
Download the companion workbook, Financial Indicators Template (Excel), to analyze your own community's data.
General Governance Best Practices
- Preparing for Employee Turnover (PDF)
- Transitioning Government Positions From Elected to Appointed (Video)
This video describes the transition process, and the benefits that can be gained, when changing a municipal office from elected to appointed. - What is "Home Rule?" (PDF)
| Date published: | July 30, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Last updated: | March 18, 2021 |