General Government Financial Analysis
General Government Financial Analysis
FCS GROUP financial consultants specialize in helping local and state governments, regional agencies and public safety entities address and solve issues involving policy objectives, public finance, cost recovery, facility financing and long-term facility reinvestment funding, and organizational performance. We have a broad understanding and specific expertise on local and state government policymaking; how the many different governmental functions are performed; and what role elected officials, the public, community organizations and employees have in making governments responsive to community needs.
“The depth and rigor of our financial analysis helps public agencies solve critical challenges of sustainable financial stewardship of public services.”
Martin Chaw
Senior Project Manager
Our Financial Planning and Analysis consultants specialize in helping local and state governments, regional agencies and public safety entities address and solve issues involving policy objectives, public finance, cost recovery, and organizational performance. We have a broad understanding and level of expertise in how local and state governments set and implement policies; how the many different governmental functions are performed; and what role elected officials, the public, community organizations and employees have in making government responsive to community needs.
Financial planning and specific financial analyses can help your elected officials understand what actions need to be taken to maintain or improve your agency’s financial condition and sustainability. FCS GROUP’s consultants perform financial forecasting, revenue trend analyses, capital funding analyses, and cost-of-service assessments to help fiscal managers, department heads and elected officials make informed financial and policy decisions.
- Reserve analysis
- Facility life-cycle assessments
- Cost-of-service assessments
- Benefit-cost assessment
- Business and property tax analysis
- Cost recovery analysis
- Equipment rental and replacement (ER&R) funding
FCS GROUP assists local governments in determining defensible and equitable impact fees and finding alternative solutions for cost recovery. Our consultants are knowledgeable of the most up-to-date legal and policy issues regarding impact fees, which vary widely by state and jurisdiction, and are experienced in performing technical analyses of master plans, development, population, and growth estimates.
- Development impact fees
- Park impact fees
- Transportation impact fees
- Fire/EMS impact fees
- Utility impact fees
By determining the full cost of service, we help local and state public agencies establish or update user fees for services ranging from libraries and health inspection to youth sports programs and community pools. Our analyses include identifying direct and indirect costs; reviewing public versus private benefits; and developing policies on how much of the total cost might be subsidized by other revenues. In our experience, user fee studies can also be an essential management tool to help jurisdictions improve cost recovery.
- Development permit fees
- Community pool fees
- Sports and recreation fees
- Parks and municipal golf course fees
- Health inspection fees
- Miscellaneous fees
Cost allocation plans are often essential to ensuring overhead costs are properly allocated throughout your organization and among its various departments. FCS GROUP works with municipalities to analyze departmental data, allocation and cost factors, and financing strategies, and then develop customized financial models to calculate indirect costs and properly allocate them in compliance with regulatory requirements, helping you equitably balance your interdepartmental transactions.
- Direct cost allocation
- Indirect cost allocation
- Federal 2CFR 200 full cost allocation
- Cost modeling
FCS GROUP evaluates management approaches and practices to improve agency effectiveness and efficiency. Our consultants help outline goals and objectives for improving performance and develop recommendations and solutions. We also objectively analyze your existing processes, practices, and systems and determine which, if any, best practice models can be applied to improve them.
- Performance and operational efficiency assessments
- Staffing and organizational evaluations
- Departmental consolidations
- Benchmarking and comparative studies
Fire, police and ambulance services are vital to your community. FCS GROUP delivers a broad range of services focused on maintaining the long-term financial sustainability of your public safety departments including ambulance utility rates, fire and EMS cost of service, service contract feasibility, consolidations, and regional fire authorities (RFA).
- Cost-of-service
- Ambulance rates
- Feasibility studies (contracting, formations, mergers, RFAs)
- Organizational evaluations
- Taxpayer impact evaluation
Our facilities financial planning practice focuses on evaluating funding options and alternatives for facility investments, facilities maintenance cost recovery and cost allocation. We can work directly with your community’s staff or support a comprehensive facility condition assessment evaluation by partnering with an architectural and engineering firm.
- Facility investment financing options
- Tenant cost allocation methodologies
- Long-term facility reinvestment and renewal funding options
- Interfund cost-allocation
- Taxpayer impact evaluation
What our customers are saying
“We were treated professionally and in a timely manner. All of our projects with FCS GROUP were successful. I feel that the (City) got their money’s worth dealing with FCS GROUP. Their financial analysis was essential for some critical projects. The work and the service was exactly what we needed. (The project manager) was an enjoyable professional to work with. I have recommended FCS GROUP to other agencies that need financial analysis, and I don’t make recommendations lightly.”
“We would like to recommend FCS GROUP as an outstanding economic, financial and management consulting firm that has helped the Shoreline Water District with a variety of projects since 1990, most recently a rate model and the associated communication language we used to let our rate payers know of the new rates.”