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Administration
The City Administration Office directly manages the annual budget, finances, personnel, projects, capital improvements and accounting functions for all City Departments.
City Administrator
The City Administrator is responsible for coordinating city resources and personnel to provide necessary services to the citizens of the community and to administer policies as adopted by the elected officials of the City of Fairfield.
The Administrator reports to the Mayor and the City Council. Some of the duties and functions of the Administrator include:
- Coordinating the overall management of the city by developing and recommending policies, plans, and projects to the City Council for consideration
- Coordinating activities and communications between departments
The Administrator also assists the City Council in developing an annual budget by coordinating the collection of departmental information relating to capital improvements, staffing, and facilities; coordinating budget review meetings and public meetings. This person also resolves complaints, problems or concerns with city services, programs or policies by meeting with the public to clarify concerns and coordinate city efforts to correct the situation.
City Engineer / Public Works Director
The City Engineer develops the plans and specifications for public works projects, provides engineering/monitoring and administration engineering services, along with leading and coordinating the planning and zoning department. As the Public Works Director side of the job oversees the Streets, Waste Water & Water Departments and projects
City Engineer / Public Works Director, Melanie Carlson, coordinated the City’s current CIP (Capital Improvements Plan). A CIP contains all the individual capital projects, equipment purchases, and major studies for a local government; in conjunction with construction and completion schedules, and in consort with financing plans. The plan provides a working blueprint for sustaining and improving the community’s infrastructures that may be modified as the fiscal year progresses but is formally updated each year in conjunction with the budget process.
Email the City Engineer / Public Works Director.
Finance
The Fairfield Finance Department is responsible for city budgeting, revenues, expenditures, payroll, liquor licenses, and cigarette licenses.
The finances of the City of Fairfield first go through the Ways and Means Committee whose recommendations are approved or disapproved by the City Council.
Several annual reports are mandated by law to provide public accessibility, transparency, and financial responsibility:
SF634 passed out of the Senate and then the House in April, 2019. The bill established "maximum property tax dollars" which is equal to 102% of last year’s revenue for certain levies (listed below). The bill allows cities to exceed the 2% threshold with a 2/3 majority vote of council after notice, public hearing and 20 day wait as laid out in the bill.
Cities are now required to have two public hearings for their annual budget.
This first public hearing is establishing our maximum property tax dollars for the budget. This includes our regular general levy, liability, property & self insurance costs, emergency levy, FICA/IPERs, and other employee benefits (insurance costs).
What is not included in this hearing is our Debt Service Levy. It will be included when the final budget is approved in March. We will have another public hearing for the final budget which includes the taxes on this first hearing.
This is not a new tax, but part of the annual budget. We are simply required to have two public hearings.