Washington County, MN
The Goal
Aligning operating and capital needs with strategic goals and values to determine cost and options for funding. Our team worked with the County to create dynamic plans that give leaders a “road map” to help determine needs and viable options and make prudent decisions based on impacts and benefits.
The Solution
Ehlers proposed to develop a 10-Year Financial Management Plan, which allowed the County to understand, synthesize and analyze any changes in funding sources and expenditures both immediately and over a series of years. We reviewed various existing revenues and funding sources as well as other potential funding sources that could support both operating and capital needs of the County, including the use of debt. We also provided the County with various scenarios to help them evaluate different options.
The Outcome
Ehlers reviewed various existing revenues and funding sources as well as other potential funding sources that could support both operating and capital needs of the County, including the use of debt. We provided the County with various scenarios to help them evaluate different options.The Financial Management Plan reviewed various factors related to the parks system, including the following variables:
- Demography for the county, areas surrounding parks, and segments of the community that are the most and least frequent visitors
- Patterns such as drive time, quantity, and characteristics of program registrations (when applicable), and vehicle permit quantity and its correlation with specific program types
- Usage trends such as visitation, dwell time, travel distance, and other factors as closely related to park attributes and program offerings
Evaluating these factors, as well as the financial status of the parks system, Ehlers provided critical context for the funding alternative analysis, equity analysis and stakeholder engagement elements of the project. By starting with detailed, fine-grained data collection and analysis, we helped the County establish and communicate a shared understanding of how residents and others use County parks and engage in its programming.