Budget

The Budget Office is located on the Town Hall campus, 101 E. Orange St.

The Budget Office is responsible for preparing the town's budget, under the oversight of the town manager and in collaboration with the various departments and divisions.

The budget is a blueprint for building a sound financial framework for town operations. It ensures the town's resources are allocated toward the priorities identified by the Board of Commissioners. Specifically, the budget is a financial plan consisting of an estimate of proposed expenditures, the proposed means of financing and the goals and objectives of expenditures for the fiscal year (July 1-June 30).

The fiscal year 2015-16 budget was the 15th to receive the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association, the highest national award in governmental budgeting.

Hillsborough uses the balanced scorecard, a system of measures that helps the town implement its objectives. Each department has a scorecard with specific initiatives, targeted outcomes for the initiatives and ways to measure performance. The system is more fully explained in an article written by William C. Rivenbark, a UNC School of Government faculty member, and Eric J. Peterson, Hillsborough's town manager.

Hillsborough's Fiscal Year 2012 Balanced Scorecard Report earned a Gold Certificate of Achievement in Performance Reporting from the Association of Government Accountants. This marks the fourth year Hillsborough has received a Service Efforts and Accomplishments award from the association.

In early 2016, the town implemented a departmental priorities system to help departments and the Board of Commissioners refine focus on top priorities and to reduce distractions from those priorities. Departments will present their top priorities for each upcoming fiscal year with the town’s draft budget and will provide mid-year updates to the board. The current Top Departmental Priorities Mid-Year Update is available.