Budget Award

Last week at City Council meeting we recognized both our outstanding employee of the month and the quarterly division of the month. It just so happens that both of them came from the finance department. This week the finance department was back to receive another award, this time from outside of the City, as the Government Finance Officers Association presented the City with the Distinguished Budget Award. Also this week the West Valley City Audit Review committee, which I am a member of, met to discuss the progress of the annual City audit.

What this means to the average resident of our community is that West Valley City continues to maintain the highest standards of budget and financial work. The work that comes out of this department is crucial for policy making decisions by the City Council and the quality of the work needs to precise. It is relieving to have capable professionals and effective controls at ever corner of the budgeting process. Taxpayer funds are sacred and it is important that we continue to work to use these funds in an efficient and effective way.


Below is the WVC press release regarding the award:


West Valley City Receives 19th Consecutive Budget Award

West Valley City – For the 19th consecutive year West Valley City has been awarded the Distinguished Budget Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for fiscal year 2009-2010. This award is presented to governmental entities that demonstrate the highest principals of proficiency and excellence in budget preparation and presentment. In order to receive this honor the entity must satisfy nationally recognized standards of effective budget presentation. The award will be presented to the City during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 21, at 6:30 p.m.
“The budget staff and finance department work very hard to ensure that the highest principals of accuracy and disclosure are maintained,” Jim Welch, finance director for West Valley City, stated. “We are pleased to be recognized for this significant achievement.”
West Valley City is one of only 21 government entities in Utah to receive the Distinguished Budget Award from the GFOA, and one of only 14 municipalities. According the GFOA website (www.gfoa.org), the award is to meant to encourage government entities to prepare high-quality budget documents which increases accountability and can lead to better decision making and transparency.
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Final Bond Payment

I still remember the amount of relief, pride, and satisfaction when I made the last payment on my first car and received a clear title many years ago. Having ownership and taking care of our financial obligations is something that has helped to make our country expand our horizons and prosper. Recently West Valley City made final bond payments on the money borrowed to purchase and construct West Ridge Golf Course and make improvements to City Hall. The relief of this development will help to strengthen the foundation of the City and allow us turn our focus to other areas of debt relief and Citywide progress. Posted below here is the official statement issued by West Valley City on the matter:

West Valley City – The liability portfolio of Utah’s second largest city no longer includes West Ridge Golf Course or West Valley City Hall, as West Valley City made the final bond payments on the two facilities in January 2010. The final payment on the $15 million bond means the City can now redirect the bond payment funds to additional liabilities, including StoneBridge Golf Club.

“It’s always a good thing when you can eliminate debt,” says Director of Finance James Welch. “The payoff of this bond not only clears the debt on West Ridge Golf Course, but on City Hall as well.”

 The 18-hole West Ridge Golf Course was built by West Valley City in 1990. Funds from the $15 million bond were used to purchase land and build the golf course, as well as to provide improvements to West Valley City Hall.
 StoneBridge Golf Club, a 27-hole golf course, was purchase in 2001 for approximately $13 million; the bond is expected to be paid off in 2021.

West Valley City Debt

Today I have decided to tackle a difficult topic within this blog and hopefully shed some light on the City's current situation. Recent hardships during these tough economic times have in many ways been linked to individuals, institutions, and governments borrowing more money than they can afford. Therefore I have compiled some select City financial data to help assess the overall economic health of West Valley City and try to put it into perspective. Also as my role as Councilman and chairman of the West Valley City audit committee I feel that it is important to crunch through these numbers occasionally in order to be a wise steward of public dollars.

The appraised market value of West Valley City is pushing up close to ten billion dollars or about $77,000 of City infrastructure per resident. Individual property taxes have a rate of approximately 1.398% which over the years has helped in building and servicing the City. As a City we have an operating budget of around 67 million dollars. During the good years the City has been able to put some funds in a reserve account that currently has a balance just over 7 million dollars or 10.59% of the operating revenue. Currently I feel that this is an excellent amount of reserve funds, but unfortunately those funds will probably be called upon during the next couple of years to fill some holes within the budget due to lagging sales tax revenues. The goal would be to replenish these funds as soon as tax revenue generators like the renovated Valley Fair Mall start to bring in more shoppers and tax revenue and as the overall economy improves.

The total debt for West Valley City continues on a downward trend and is just over 109 million dollars. The annual debt service payments on the outstanding debt is around 8 millions dollars which is approximately 8% of the operating expenditures. Each resident's share of this calculated debt would be about $875 per person or about 5% of the average per capita income. This number might seem a little bit high until you remember that Utah has the lowest per capita income in the nation based on the fact that in comparison we have many more children in our population.

These relative strength of these numbers has helped the City achieve unusually high credit ratings which has saved us money in the long run. Having this information in mind is helpful in setting the priorities and goals of the City. We should strive to make our budgets lean and reduce debt while continuing the high levels of service and opportunities within West Valley City.

I hope that these facts and figures are insightful. As always please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns: corey@coreyrushton.com

Boring, but important...

I wanted to report on a couple of items that have taken a tedious amount of work over an extended period of time and are now complete or nearly complete. The first one is the successful completion of Fiscal Year 2008 Citywide Audit. Over a number of years West Valley City has contracted with the firm of Jensen & Keddington to preform a complete financial audit. This year the City went a step further with the creation of an Audit Review Committee. This committee was made assembled with some outside financial experts as well as community members. I served as one of the City Council appointees to this committee, and in doing so participated in extensive review of West Valley City's financial practices and received detailed answers to my specific inquires. West Valley has been recognized often for the integrity and manner of the annual audit and this year was able to quickly remedy the few minor deficiencies exposed by the audit process. This places West Valley City on firm ground as we proceed into the new fiscal year.

The second noteworthy item is that it appears we have come to consensus as to the hard surface parking ordinance. After sorting through the various staff recommendations and considering community input it looks as though well maintained additional gravel parking will be allowed and the original ordinance from years back will be amended. West Valley City staff has been charged with rewriting the ordinance and it should be available for final adoption in the coming weeks.

Finally, I am shocked that during these first initial months of my website featuring the United States Government Quiz only two entries have posted a 100% score. Additionally, one of those perfect scores was submitted by my father who was a Social Studies teacher for many years and thus probably shouldn't count. Maybe when the summer is over and school is back in session I will see the scores start to rise as well. Give it a try if you haven't already.

West Valley City Bond Ratings

Recently a small delegation representing West Valley City traveled to San Francisco to present the City's finances to firms associated with municipal bonds and the credit market. The good news and forecasts that came from these meetings resulted in a strong financial outlook for the City amidst of the current economic slowdown. I currently serve as a City Council representative on the West Valley Audit committee and after recently reviewing in detail the corresponding citywide audit, I remain confident that we continue to weather the current economic slide and emerge from the recession and leaner and more efficient City. Also with this good credit rating news we will be able to continue to reduce City debt and save money on financing costs of City facilities and infrastructure. With this we will also need to be prepared to capture new jobs, development, and businesses opportunities on the next wave when local and national economies begin to expand.

According to Business Wire, Fitch Ratings affirms West Valley City's Bonds as follows:

Sales Tax Revenue: 'AA-' Stable Outlook

Lease Revenue Bonds: 'A+' & 'A' Stable Outlook

You can read the full article at http://www.businesswire.com/