The city budget is a spending plan setting out anticipated income revenue (such as taxes and grants) and determining how those funds will be spent over a years time. The City Administrator works with the Finance department to present an annual budget to the City Council, who then approves it. The budget is a policy document which establishes the authority to levy and collect taxes and spend those dollars for the benefit of the whole community.
Cities rarely have enough money to be able to do everything needed in a community in any given year. Budgeting, as a process, is concerned with developing an acceptable balance between costs, services, and improvements needed in the city. It actually works very much like your budget at home, accounting for the purchase of fixed expenses (like utility bills), consumable goods (groceries and shoes), and planning ahead for financing of big ticket items and improvements (a new car or having your roof replaced.)
State law requires the City Council to adopt an annual budget and certify it to the County Auditor by March 15th of each year preceding the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1st. The budget must show planned expenditures for each program, income from sources other than property taxes, and set the property tax rate expressed in dollars per thousand of assessed value.
All cities in Iowa are required to use a budget format covering nine major areas of public service: Public Safety, Public Works, Health & Social Services, Culture & Recreation, Community & Economic Development, General Government, Debt Service/Capital Improvement Projects, Business Type, and Non-Program.
When you see notice of Ottumwa’s City budget published, it is broken down into those categories.
Copies of the current Annual Budget and the Annual Financial Report available for public review at the City Clerk’s Office, on the first floor of City Hall, 105 East Third Street, or the Ottumwa Public Library, 129 N. Court Street.
State law requires that every local government to have an external audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards on an annual basis.
Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City of Ottumwa for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) every year, with the most recent for the year ending June 30, 2021.
Fiscal Year End Audit Report 2023
Fiscal Year End Audit Report 2022
Fiscal Year End Audit Report 2021
Fiscal Year End Audit Report 2020
The proposed property tax levy for the 2025 budget has a public hearing set for April 2, 2024.
Director of Finance