CLC

INTERDEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM

September 14, 2010

TO: Budget and Finance Teams

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 Plant shut

down 3 years ago. Beyond that, the national financial crisis has hit the town hard, and has seen even more

of the fragile industry disappear. 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-year 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 access to information on revenues and 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 best way to balance the need for critical town

services 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 recommendations 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. You 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