To achieve a balanced budget for the next fiscal year, the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen started budget discussions the second week of January. The Town’s budget is not only a plan for the Boards’ priorities, but is a legal document required by the state of Tennessee by June 30th. The Board will meet in weekly work sessions until the budget is finalized, presented to the public, and then submitted to the state. 

To ensure the Town remains financially strong, the Board relies on the expertise of the Finance Department to share historical data, the Town’s budget structure, current trends, and future considerations. In addition to Finance’s support, another critical element of the budget planning process is individual Town Departments making detailed presentations sharing the state of their departments with the Board. The Board will spend the next several weeks listening to Town Department Directors share their operational challenges, projected workloads, and staffing and personnel needs. The Board will then ask Departments questions, make suggestions, and often ask for further justification on certain issues. 

One challenge facing Town Departments is continuing to provide exceptional services to a community with a growing population. Personnel makes up a large portion of departmental budgets, and as Collierville continues to grow, the need for Town employees to accomplish more tasks also increases. 

For example, the Town’s Public Works division consist of 80 employees who work in sanitation, streets and drainage, and fleet maintenance. Out of those 80 employees, there are 7 mechanics who maintain 473 total vehicles (fleet) and equipment for the Town. This past year, these 7 mechanics completed 1,665 service orders. With the addition of a new ambulance service, added patrol officers, and needed heavy equipment operators, there will be a significant strain on fleet maintenance employees. Personnel challenges will be one of the many challenges for the Board to consider during the budget planning process.  

Following the Department presentations, the Board will discuss program changes that could impact a department’s operations for the future and prioritize Capital Improvement Projects. A capital project is a project that helps maintain or improve a Town asset, often related to infrastructure. Capital projects can be drainage or street improvements, new traffic signals, additional greenbelt trails, etc. They are a wide variety of projects designed to improve or replace existing Town properties. 

While January is wrapping up, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen still have many hours of planning ahead of them over the next few months working toward a budget that reflects the priorities of the community they serve.