FY 2009 Popular Annual Financial Report FY 2009 Popular Annual Financial Report | Page 6

A Look Back at 2009
Financial Highlights

economic challenges. Property tax revenue increased $4.8M due
to increased property valuations and the addition of new property
throughout the City.
The City’s assessed
property value
increased by $656M
or 4% for fiscal year
2009.
However, not all
revenue streams saw
increases. Sales tax
revenue decreased
from $81.3M in FY
2008 to $80.1M in 2009, due to the economic downturn. Like most
investors, the City’s interest income was down significantly from
$12.8M in 2008 to $5.6M in 2009.
Internally, City departments looked for more efficient and
effective ways to accomplish their business. Because of the economy
and expected decreases in revenues, City departments sought
ways to reduce expenditures. This allowed the City to decrease
expenditures by $4.5 million below the approved FY 2009 Budget.

In early 2009, the City was working on completing its 2008
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report only to witness the
downturn of the economy and its impact on the City of Arlington.
Together with our external auditor, we worked on and reviewed our
financial performance for the previous year, while closely watching
the changing economic indicators like local foreclosures and the
unemployment rate.
In spring 2009, the Mayor and City Council had set community
priorities that would be used to create the fiscal year 2010 budget.
Because of the economy and our limited resources, we wanted to
ensure that the needs and priorities to be funded in the FY 2010
budget were confirmed by Arlington’s residents. We conducted
focus group and community meetings to get input and validation on
Council’s preliminary priorities. Ultimately, Council considered the
resident’s input and ratified the community’s priorities. From that
authorization, we built the FY 2010 budget, ensuring that funding was
available to make progress on the priorities.
The summer of 2009 included site visits from Arlington’s rating
agencies as we prepared to issue $31 million in debt for our capital
program’s infrastructure projects. Arlington was able to maintain the
City’s previous bond rating from Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch despite the
economic downturn, and actually saved money by completing the debt
issue using a competitive private placement for our debt issuance.
Moody’s Investment Service indicated they confirmed the Aa2
rating for the City because, “The Aa2 rating reflects the city’s large
tax base and solid reserve levels both within the general fund as well
as those resources available in other funds. Additionally the rating
reflects Moody’s expectation that, despite the current economic
conditions that are impacting the city, a satisfactory financial position
will be maintained through strong budget management.”
The interest in quality investments, like the City’s bonds, allowed
Arlington to sell its debt at favorable interest rates. These low interest
rates will allow the city to build needed infrastructure while issuing
debt at a very low cost.
The FY 2008 CAFR earned the Government Finance Officers
Association’s Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting and
also met the SEC’s transparency requirement through continuing
financial disclosure.

Reserves
The City continued its conservative financial practices with its
other financial resources. As a matter of policy, rather than spending
recently acquired new revenue sources, the City saved those funds
and used only the interest for new investment. The City committed to
saving the revenue from the lease of the City’s landfill. In addition,
the City saved 90 percent of its natural gas lease funding from City
owned property and 50 percent of the royalties which helped create a
reserve totaling $53.1 M.

Conclusion
While it has been a year of economic uncertainty, the City of
Arlington has been impacted less than most communities in the
region, the state, and the nation. To begin, downturns in the housing
and retail markets have not had as great an impact on Arlington. The
City’s long history of fiscally responsible decision-making and regular
monitoring of our financial position have put Arlington in a good
position to weather these latest economic fluctuations. Responsible
proactive decreases in expenditures have been used to address
slowing revenues; these reductions have been designed in a way that
we believe will make Arlington stronger when the economy rallies.

Revenues and Expenditures
While Arlington has not seen a dramatic decline in property
values, other revenue sources have been impacted by the country’s

Popular Annual Financial Report for 2009

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