FY 2010 Popular Annual Financial Report FY 2010 Popular Annual Financial Report | Page 6

Financial Look Back at 2010

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have the least impact on residents. Several outsourcing opportunities
such as Risk Management and Accounts Payable allowed the City
to recognize savings. Swimming pool hours were reduced as was
the work of the Library Acquisition Division. This would be the
second year in a row that City employees received no compensation
increases.
In September 2009, the City Council unanimously approved the
City’s FY 2010 Operating Budget of $382.7 M, with a General Fund
Budget of $197 M (2% less that of FY 2009)

We said in Arlington’s FY 2010 Adopted Budget that this was a
time of “unprecedented financial uncertainty. Many tough choices
have been made to continue our history of good fiscal management,
while focusing on community priorities.” Those statements
characterize FY 2010 for Arlington and most of the rest of the country.

Long Term Fiscal Planning Pays Off
Many difficult decisions were made in 2010 as the City watched
revenues decline. We started out the fiscal year with a $69 M
loss in property values, the first decrease Arlington had seen in
property values in over a decade. Sales tax estimates were guarded
with an anticipated growth of about $1 M, following a drop in FY
2009 of $1.25 M. Because this revenue source has been dropping
significantly in recent years, this anticipated million dollar growth,
brought on primarily by developments in the City’s Entertainment
District, was expected to bring Arlington sales tax back to 2006 levels.
While lagging many other cities nationwide, Arlington was
beginning to feel the effects of the economic downturn and was able
to learn from the lessons of others who had already experienced
precipitous declines in
revenues. Seeing the
plights of cities on the
west coast and others who
experienced significant
economic challenges,
Arlington began reviewing
operations for potential
reduction and cost
savings in FY 2008. We
worked methodically over
a multi-year period so
that it was not necessary
to react in a hasty
fashion and make draconian cuts that
gutted programs and dramatically impacted services.
By the time the FY 2010 budget was adopted, Arlington had
eliminated 22 positions and reduced recurring General Fund
expenditures by $7 million. With an emphasis on maintaining quality
service delivery, efforts focused on program reductions that would

Popular Annual Financial Report for 2010

Commitment to Reserves Continues
Despite revenue decreases, the City of Arlington has kept its
long-standing commitment to funding healthy reserves. Not only does
the City have the traditional Working Capital Reserve and Unallocated
Reserve that many organizations have, but Arlington also has a
$20 M Landfill Reserve funded by the lease of the city’s landfill and
royalty payments from our solid waste contractor. Additionally, the
City has $60M in the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation. The funds are
a component unit of the City, and the Foundation’s corpus ($60M)
remains intact, while the interest from it is used to provide grants to
local non-profits and City departments for quality of life progra