West Basin Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Operating Budget

Public agencies develop budgets as a performance tool to measure accountability to its stakeholders. For West Basin, the budget is developed based on meeting the priorities, goals and objectives established by the Board of Directors through its strategic business plan. The strategic business plan provides direction for planning, budgeting, implementation, evaluation and reporting. The Plan is a “living” document in that it does not have a termination date, but it is constantly changing and evolving as the needs of West Basin change and evolve. The budget process for West Basin is designed to produce a document that is: • A policy document that provides the rationale for the budget ; • A communications tool that effectively communicates how the budget helps implement the long- range goals and strategies ; • An operational guide representing the efforts to control operations and measure performance; and • A long-term financial plan to guide West Basin’s allocation of resources The budget is available for interested parties, such as bond holders, credit rating agencies, and its customers for review. It contains a wide variety of information on West Basin’s short- and long-term strategic planning and financial policies, as well as the current and future fiscal stability. For West Basin, the budget further demonstrates West Basin’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and transparency of its operations. The budget shows how the agency will invest its revenues derived from user fees and fixed revenue sources to support its mission and programs. The General Manager communicates the goals and the current year budget objectives to the managers to ensure the budget includes the financial requirements necessary to achieve these goals and objectives. To ensure completion, the strategic goals are also incorporated into individual staff’s performance and monthly board memos to reflect the commitment to meet the Board’s directives. Budget Process and Timeline Key Budget Drivers Addressed Strive to achieve targeted debt coverage ratio Fund PAYGO projects including Refurbishment & Replacement projects Refurbishment & Replacements needs for aging infrastructure for optimization of operations Stabilization of Revenues Meet Strategic Plan goals 4-1