LONG RANGE PLAN

Within the next 15 years, the planned developments within the Town boundaries will be largely completed and the Town will be built-out. This has important implications for both Town revenue streams and Town activities. Tax revenue growth that is related to population growth, such as sales taxes, will level off. Property tax revenue and franchise fees will also see declining growth as the number of incremental homes drops off.

The Public Works department will shift its focus from building new infrastructure to maintaining existing Town assets. With new infrastructure projects complete, building-related revenues such as excise tax and large residential building permits will decrease. These are substantial, one-time revenues that support building new infrastructure that will not be available to maintain it longterm.

In the meantime, the Town has considerable planned infrastructure needs for the next ten years, both within the community and within the Town government itself. As the community grows, the Town will also need to increase staff and operational expenses to support community services and programs. To support all these needs and prepare for the changes that will come with build-out, the Town must strategically leverage all its revenue sources and create a deliberate timeline for projects and growth.

In order to address these strategic issues and achieve the Town’s strategic goals, the Town developed a detailed Long-Range Financial Plan (LRP) for five funds starting in 2022. The funds included are the significant operating and capital funds that are impacted by or impact the General Fund. The LRP includes the 2023 Budget and estimates for years 2024 through 2032. The LRP is an evolving road map for the Town’s financial future. It is intended to serve as a tool to identify both challenges and opportunities and to provide insight to address issues impacting the financial condition of the Town. It also presents a picture of how the funds interact with each other, including how even small changes to one fund’s revenue or expense assumptions impact the overall financial picture.

The LRP incorporates all the projects in the 10-year Capital Improvement Plan and includes an average of five incremental staff positions a year. In 2023, year one, there are nine new positions to reflect the actual staffing needs for next year. On the revenue side, the LRP strategically makes use of the most restricted revenue first to maximize flexibility. Finally, this year, the LRP does not include the full impacts of build-out since it is projected to occur outside of the ten-year planning period. Some slowing of development-related revenue growth is addressed in the Public Improvement Fund section. Economic factors such as inflation or market cycles are only included in the near term because the outlook is always changing as the projection extends farther out, and they tend to impact both the revenue and expense side to mitigate the overall impact. For 2023, the current economic trends, including inflation, are included in both the expenditure and revenue budgets.