Budget
2023-2025 Budget and Master Financial Plan
Overview
The budget is the principal financial plan for the City that identifies revenues received and the various types of expenses incurred for the many services provided to Mission Viejo's residents. The City of Mission Viejo develops a two-year budget, adopted in odd-numbered years. The budget and master financial plan serve two primary purposes:
- To present a clear picture of the types of services the City provides to the public and how much they cost (individually and in the aggregate).
- To provide City management with a financial and operating plan that allows for both short-term and long-term planning and decision making.
In December 1996, the City of Mission Viejo moved from an annual budget to a two-year (biennial) budget. Within the biennial budget cycle are two distinct fiscal years, each of which begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. Funds for these fiscal years are appropriated and adopted by the City council one year at a time.
Funding
Funding for the City's budget comes from several different sources. The General Fund is the primary operating fund, providing the resources to pay for basic government services such as police protection, street, park and landscape maintenance, recreation and cultural events, and planning and building services. The principal revenue sources for the General Fund are property and sales and use taxes.
Another source of funding (non-General Fund) comes from the group of "Special Revenue Funds." This group represents revenues restricted for special purposes, such as gas taxes are limited to street-related expenditures. The City also utilizes: "Debt Service Funds" to account for the principal and interest payments of general long-term debt; "Capital Project Funds" to account for the acquisition and construction of major capital facilities; and "Enterprise Funds" to account for services financed mostly by user charges, such as our animal services program, MVTV, and the golf course.
Expenditures
The expenditures within the budget are divided into two groups: the Operating Budget, representing the costs to deliver basic municipal services; and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget, for the acquisition, expansion, or rehabilitation of Mission Viejo's physical assets.
Operating Budget expenditures are organized by program area and individual program. This means that expenditures are clustered to show the cost of the service being provided, not strictly by organizational units. As an example, the City's thirteen different departments are divided among the eight major program areas shown below. Each of the following program areas then contain a related set of individual programs:
- General Government - Legislative
- General Government - Management & Support
- Public Safety
- Community Development
- Engineering & Transportation
- Infrastructure Maintenance
- Golf Operations
- Recreation, Community & Library Services
Each program budget is in turn further broken down into one or more of seventeen expenditure categories: Salaries & wages, Benefits, Professional/Technical Contractual Services, Maintenance/Repair Contractual Services, Supplies, Insurance, Rents, Utilities, Dues/Memberships/Subscriptions, Travel/Training/Meetings, Other Services/Fees, Economic Development, Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program, Contributions to agencies/organizations, Depreciation, Debt Service, and Capital Outlay.
Capital Improvement Program Budget
The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) represents an assessment of the near-term infrastructure and other capital improvement needs of the community. The CIP budget is made up of several different projects, such as for sidewalk repairs, rehabilitation of arterial highways, and structural modifications to City facilities.
Availability
The printed biennial budget document is available for review or purchase at City Hall approximately 90 days after the City Council formally adopts the budget. Several copies of the budget are also available for review at the reference desk of the Mission Viejo Library. In addition, the entire budget document is posted to this website.