Financial Policies

Introduction

The East Haddam Board of Finance recognizes that financial decisions for our community are driven by our fiscal health.  We understand that our citizens expect their town government to deliver essential services such as public safety, education, sound infrastructure, recreational opportunities and more.  To fulfill these expectations, we must invest in infrastructure, reserve funds and other obligations to assure our financial wellbeing for years to come.  Effective financial policies can help elected officials, management and staff make sound decisions for our citizens now and into the future.

What are Financial Policies?

Financial policies provide written guidance for how local government elected officials, management and staff should approach fiscal issues and core financial areas.

Effective financial policies are essential to our community’s fiscal health.  They provide stability and continuity by establishing what actions are acceptable and unacceptable, identifying who is responsible for taking certain actions and providing standards to measure your jurisdiction’s performance.

Financial policies are used during the annual audit to assess compliance, by credit rating agencies to help determine our fiscal stability and by other financial professionals as a basis for providing services.

Benefits of Financial Policies

Among many benefits, financial policies can:

• Outline a clear vision of how we will manage our financial resources to provide the best value to our community
• Increase accountability and minimize confusion by identifying who can take what actions
• Support good bond ratings and reduce the cost of borrowing
• Promote long-term strategic thinking
• Manage and reduce risks to our community’s fiscal health
• Help our community comply with established best practices identified by organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)

Key Components of a Comprehensive Financial Policy

Financial policies and procedures can include a wide variety of topics.  The Board of Finance has embarked upon preparing financial policies.

The following Policies have been adopted:

• BOF_Approved _Budget_Policy.pdf 
• BOF_Approved_Capital_Policy.pdf 
• BOF_Approved_Debt_Management_Policy.pdf 
• BOF_Approved_Fund_Policies (rev 11-2022).pdf  
• BOF_Approved_Investment_Policy.pdf 

As the Board of Finance progresses adopting policies, the policies will be made available on the Town’s website.

Any questions regarding policies may be directed to the Finance Director at 860-873-5022 or financeadmin@easthaddam.org