Objective 1: Build long-term financial resilience.

Improve our credit rating.

2029. A higher credit rating signals to investors that the City is a low-risk borrower, which directly results in lower interest rates when issuing debt. This leads to long-term savings on borrowing costs, freeing up resources for additional infrastructure investments.

Adopt a general fund balance policy.

2026. The general fund is the city's primary operating fund. A fund balance policy will outline expectations for balanced budgets, minimum fund balance levels and expenditure controls to ensure that the City can maintain essential services during economic downturns.

Reduce the budget deficit.

Ongiong. Focuses on aligning revenues with expenditures to eliminate structural imbalances through a combination of strategies including revenue enhancements and diversification, prioritizing expenditures and increasing operational efficiencies.

Objective 2: Grow, diversify, and protect income streams.

Conduct a revenue and fee optimization study to align fines and fees with the cost of service delivery.

2026. Many city fines and fees have not kept pace with cost of service delivery. A study would help to identify where we currently fall short, measure how our fines and fees compare to other cities, and make recommendations for implementing updates.

Inventory and evaluate potential new revenue sources, including admissions tax, neighborhood safety income tax, and others.

2026. State policy changes have taken tens of millions of dollars from Toledo's local government funds, creating a budget deficit we can't cut our way out of. New revenue will need to be brought in to ensure service delivery can be appropriately maintained.

Maximize federal and state grant dollars to reduce the burden on local revenue streams.

Ongoing. Many grants allow for a portion of administrative fees to be reimbursed back to the city, allowing the city to recover some funding for time spent implementing grant funded projects.

Develop coordinated public-private fundraising strategies for key capital projects.

2028. Major capital projects are a great opportunity to recruit private donations, creating more funding for transformational projects.

Reduce tax leakage by increasing compliance, improving collections, and strengthening enforcement.

Ongoing. Focuses on ensuring that all taxes owed to the City are billed and collected in the most efficient manner. Underreported taxes represent lost revenue that could otherwise support essential City services.

Objective 3: Maximize impact and efficiency of existing resources.

Develop a four-year spending plan that aligns the operating budget with the strategic plan.

2026. As a follow-up to this plan, a spending plan will create a detailed plan for how projects are prioritized and implemented over the next four years.

Establish a holistic framework to align all infrastructure investments with the strategic plan.

2026. Major infrastructure projects provide once-in-a-generation opportunities to reimagine the built environment. The investment of federal, state, and local dollars into these projects should be prioritized to align this strategic plan and stacked with other types of city and community investment to maximize impact. A holistic framework allows for the evaluation of potential infrastructure projects against all these goals and opportunities.

Objective 4: Control expenses and eliminate waste.

Implement healthcare cost containment strategies.

2026. Healthcare costs are one of the fastest growing components of the City's budget. Cost containment strategies may include plan design changes, prescription cost management and increased employee contributions while still focusing on providing quality coverage for employees.

Modernize citywide procurement practices.

2027. Improve how the City purchases goods and services by adopting more efficient, transparent and data-driven processes in order to achieve better pricing and reduce inefficiencies. This may include implementing new procurement software systems.

Optimize the use of city-owned real estate.

2028. City employees are currently distributed across many city-owned buildings. Optimizing the use of these buildings could allow for budget savings or create opportunities to sell assets.

Review and optimize vendor contracts.

Ongoing. As vendor contracts come up for review, city staff will seek reductions in existing agreements and evaluate whether the vendor's services are still needed.

Review and optimize fleet utilization.

2027. Review our current utilization of city-owned vehicles to identify opportunities for consolidation, sharing, or reduction where no longer needed.

Optimize city workforce through the use of external resources, attrition-based restructuring, and cost-sharing/service delivery agreements with partners.

2027. Create a long-term plan to realign city workforce for maximum impact, utilizing external resources and cost-sharing agreements where appropriate, and transitioning existing jobs as current employees vacate them.

Launch an employee-driven expense reduction program.

2026. The people closest to the work often have the best ideas for how to do it more efficiently. This program will reward employees who identify operational changes that save the city money.

Objective 5: Strengthen understanding of our budget, financial priorities, and long-term outlook across the organization and community.

Integrate city budget education into community outreach efforts.

2027. Helping the community better understand the city budget is a critical foundation for providing input on how to best prioritize city dollars. Outreach materials focused on how the city is funded, how the money is spent, and what value that brings to the city will be developed.

Publish a simplified 'Budget in Brief'.

2026. Critical to understanding how the city's budget works is a document that can be easily digested. A budget in brief will be published annually alongside the full proposed budget to help strengthen community understanding of the city's financial position.

Enhance internal financial reporting and quarterly forecasting communication.

Ongoing. Improving the city's internal reporting will help give leadership more information to guide budgetary decisions in between annual budget and reporting cycles.

Build sustained engagement with boards, commissions, advocates, and legislators on budget priorities and forecasts.

Ongoing. Ongoing communication with our community partners about the city's budget position will help build collaboration where support is needed.