PADM 702 Fiscal Condition Analysis of Maumelle, Arkansas: Guide and Excel Template
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Get it written →PADM 702 Research Paper: Fiscal Condition Analysis
Sound fiscal health is imperative to ensuring the effective operation of governments. Thus, governments should periodically assess their financial condition. Performing a financial condition analysis can provide governments with valuable information on the current and future state of their finances. The analysis can highlight potential fiscal problems and provide information necessary for corrective action.
- Develop a fiscal condition analysis of Maumelle, Arkansas analyzing the most recent three-year revenue and expenditures data of Maumelle, Arkansas.
- Utilize Excel Tools and charts to compute and create tables and charts to create a fiscal condition analysis for Maumelle, Arkansas.
Focus on the five most important financial indicators for local governments: Total Revenues, Property Taxes, Sales Taxes, Operating Expenditures and Personnel Costs.
Use the Fiscal Condition Analysis template, 12-pt Times New Roman, and a minimum of 3 sources per heading, not including the course textbooks and the Bible. This is a doctoral-level assignment; mere opinion or conjecture will not suffice.
Is the city’s capacity to pay for services keeping pace with growth and inflation?
The most stable source; tied to assessed values and millage
Growth-sensitive but volatile; tracks the local economy
Are costs growing faster than revenues?
Usually the largest, least flexible cost
Step 1: Get the right data
The data for this assignment come from the City of Maumelle’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs), which are posted on the city’s website and filed with Arkansas Legislative Audit. Use the three most recent audited years available. For each year, pull figures from the Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balances – Governmental Funds and the Statistical Section (revenue by source, expenditures by function and employees by function).
Consistency rules that graders look for
- Pick one scope, either the General Fund or total governmental funds, and use it for every year and every indicator. State your choice in the methods paragraph.
- Exclude other financing sources (bond proceeds, transfers in) from “total revenues” and capital outlay and debt service from “operating expenditures,” unless your guide says otherwise.
- Personnel costs are often not a single line on the fund statement. Add salaries, wages and benefits from the budget-to-actual schedules or departmental detail, and explain your method.
- Record the ACFR page number for every figure so your instructor can trace it.
Step 2: Use the Excel template
Download the Maumelle fiscal condition analysis Excel template. It has three sheets:
- Data: yellow input cells for three fiscal years of the five indicators, population and the consumer price index (CPI-U).
- Analysis: formulas that calculate year-over-year percentage change, average annual growth (CAGR), per capita amounts, inflation-adjusted change and key ratios (property and sales tax shares of revenue, personnel costs as a share of operating expenditures and operating surplus or deficit).
- Charts: four ready-made charts (revenues vs. expenditures, property and sales taxes, personnel costs and the personnel ratio) that update when you enter data. Copy them into your paper as figures with APA titles and notes.
Step 3: Know the context
A strong analysis explains why the numbers moved. Verified context for Maumelle includes:
| Factor | What we know | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 19,250 (2020 Census); about 19,541 (July 2024 estimate) (City Population, n.d.) | Slow growth means revenue gains come mainly from rates, values and the economy rather than new residents; use population for per capita figures |
| Sales tax rates | Combined 9.5%: Arkansas 6.5%, Pulaski County 1.0%, City of Maumelle 2.0% (Arkansas Site Selection Center, n.d., using 2022 city data) | A 2% city rate makes sales tax a major and economically sensitive revenue source; also note the county sales tax turnback shared by population |
| Property tax millage | Total 62.9 mills, of which 5.0 mills support the city General Fund and 1.45 mills the city road fund; real property is assessed at 20% of appraised value (Arkansas Site Selection Center, n.d.) | The city receives a small share of the total property tax bill; most goes to the school district, which limits how much the city can raise from property |
| Recent budget pressure | In spring 2025, staff projected 2025 expenditures exceeding revenues by about $2.88 million, with about $10 million in project transfers committed from 2023 to 2025; the unassigned General Fund balance was near the city’s 20% policy minimum of about $4.2 million (Citizen Portal, 2025a, 2025b) | Shows the importance of comparing operating trends with one-time capital spending and reserves |
| Service delivery changes | The city paid North Little Rock for first-quarter 2025 dispatch services (Citizen Portal, 2025a) | Contracting can shift costs from personnel to contractual services, which affects your personnel trend |
Step 4: Interpret each indicator
The International City/County Management Association’s Financial Trend Monitoring System treats indicators as favorable or warning signs (Nollenberger et al., 2003). Use these questions for each heading:
| Indicator | Favorable pattern | Warning sign | Questions to answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenues | Growth at or above inflation and population; diverse sources | Declining real per capita revenue; heavy reliance on one-time or intergovernmental revenue | How did real per capita revenue change? Which sources drove the change? |
| Property taxes | Steady growth from reassessment and new construction | Flat or falling assessed values; rising delinquencies | Was growth from values, millage or timing of collections? |
| Sales taxes | Growth in line with local retail activity | Declines, high volatility or dependence on a few retailers | What share of revenue is sales tax? How exposed is the city to a recession or online shopping shifts? |
| Operating expenditures | Growth no faster than revenues; stable per capita costs | Expenditures growing faster than revenues; recurring deficits covered by fund balance | Is there a structural gap? Which functions (police, fire, streets, parks) are growing? |
| Personnel costs | Stable share of operating expenditures; controlled benefit growth | Rising share of the budget; pension and health costs outpacing revenue | How did employee counts and pay changes affect costs? Is the share sustainable? |
Worked example of the method (hypothetical numbers)
The figures below are invented for a fictional “Sample City” to show how to read the template’s output. Do not use them for Maumelle. Replace them with the ACFR figures.
| Sample City (hypothetical) | FY1 | FY2 | FY3 | Avg annual growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenues | $24.0M | $25.2M | $25.9M | 3.9% |
| Property taxes | $3.0M | $3.1M | $3.3M | 4.9% |
| Sales taxes | $11.5M | $12.1M | $12.0M | 2.2% |
| Operating expenditures | $21.5M | $23.4M | $25.6M | 9.1% |
| Personnel costs | $13.0M | $14.2M | $15.3M | 8.5% |
Sample interpretation: Revenues grew about 3.9% a year, roughly in line with inflation, but sales tax flattened in FY3, which signals sensitivity to the local economy. Operating expenditures grew more than twice as fast as revenues, shrinking the operating surplus from about 10% of revenues to about 1%. Personnel costs, at about 60% of operating spending, drove most of the increase. Together, these trends are a warning sign of an emerging structural imbalance. Recommendations would include multiyear forecasting, a review of staffing and benefit costs, economic development to broaden the sales tax base and a policy limiting the use of fund balance for recurring costs.
Paper outline that matches the template
- Introduction: purpose of financial condition analysis; brief profile of Maumelle (planned community in Pulaski County, mayor-council government, population about 19,500); data sources and fund scope.
- Total Revenues: table and chart; three-year and real per capita trend; composition; interpretation with at least three sources.
- Property Taxes: trend, share of revenue, millage and assessment context.
- Sales Taxes: trend, share of revenue, rate structure, economic drivers and risk.
- Operating Expenditures: trend by function, comparison with revenue growth, operating surplus or deficit.
- Personnel Costs: trend, share of operating expenditures, staffing and benefit drivers, contracting changes.
- Overall Fiscal Condition and Recommendations: synthesis of the five indicators, reserves relative to the 20% policy, and specific, evidence-based recommendations.
- Conclusion and References.
Suggested sources (3 per heading)
- City of Maumelle ACFRs and adopted budgets for each year analyzed.
- Arkansas Legislative Audit reports for Maumelle.
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration local sales and use tax reports.
- Nollenberger, Groves and Valente’s ICMA handbook on evaluating financial condition.
- Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) best practices on fund balance, revenue diversification and long-term forecasting.
- Peer-reviewed public finance research on fiscal condition measurement, structural balance and revenue volatility (for example, in Public Budgeting & Finance or Public Finance Review).
References
Arkansas Site Selection Center. (n.d.). Maumelle, AR community profile. Retrieved October 28, 2026, from https://arkansassiteselection.com/Community/Detail/487
Citizen Portal. (2025a). Maumelle council accepts April 2025 financial report; staff flags $2.88M 2025 shortfall and $10M in project transfers. https://citizenportal.ai/articles/8204977
Citizen Portal. (2025b). Maumelle finance director reports May 2025 results; general fund and bond paydown discussed. https://citizenportal.ai/articles/8205198
City Population. (n.d.). Maumelle (city, USA). Retrieved October 28, 2026, from https://www.citypopulation.de/en/usa/arkansas/pulaski/0544600__maumelle
Nollenberger, K., Groves, S. M., & Valente, M. G. (2003). Evaluating financial condition: A handbook for local government (4th ed.). International City/County Management Association.
[City of Maumelle. (Year). Annual comprehensive financial report for the year ended December 31, Year. Add one entry for each ACFR you use.]
Frequently asked questions
Should I use the General Fund or all governmental funds?
Either can work if you are consistent and explain why. The General Fund shows day-to-day operations and is easiest to compare; all governmental funds captures street, capital and debt funds. Follow your assignment guide if it specifies one.
Can I use budget numbers instead of the ACFR?
Use audited actuals from the ACFR for the three-year analysis. Adopted budgets are useful for the forward-looking part of your recommendations.
How do I adjust for inflation?
Divide each year’s amount by that year’s CPI-U annual average, then compare. The template does this in the last column of the Analysis sheet.
Related reading: appropriations and expenses trend analysis and financial planning and forecasting summary paper.
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