Culminating Project Part III - only have to do question #4 because it is team project

INTERDEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM September 14, 2010 TO: Budget and Finance Team s FROM: Jack Sprague, Town Manager RE: Town Financial Crisis As you all are aware, Hadleyville is in a deep financial crisis. As your Budget Briefing Books will show, the town has experienced declining revenues ever since the Wilson Performance Automobile P lant shut down 3 years ago . Beyond that, the nation al financial crisis has hit the town hard, and has seen even more of the fragile industry disappe ar. Our residents have increasingly had a hard time finding work, and those who have not outright left are anchored to mortgages they cannot afford and family obligations they cannot meet. I have divided the department into teams , and over the course of the next 8 weeks , each team is required to develop a proposal outlining a 3- to 5-yea r plan for recovery . This will not be easy, and I suspect as you delve into individual department budgets , you will encounter troubling decisions that must be made. Ultimately, the political leadership of the town will have to make those decisions, but we cannot do so without your help. Each team will have acc ess to information on revenues an d current expenditures via the Budget Briefing Books and will need to determine which two of the town’s most troubling departments need immediate revisions in their operating budgets. We ask that you apply the knowledge you’ve gained about operating budgets and your own personal experiences to analyze the bes t way to balance the need for critical town servic es with the town’s budgeting needs. Some key points : Be sure to analyze the town’s direct and entitlement obligations in the adopted budget; examine at least two town departments and make recom mendat ions for reduced spending; present an overall proposal to the town council of your findings and recommendations for reducing the town budget by at least 13% overall immediately; and look for ways to eliminate deficit spending in 3 years . Yo u will have a lot of options at your disposal . Be sure to weigh the positives and negatives of each. HADLEYVILLE HADLEYVILLE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE 1245 LINCOLN BOULEVARD HADLEYVILLE, AZ 85001