Section 36 of the City Charter authorizes the City Commission to establish the office of the Finance Director, under whose authority the overall Finance Department is staffed, organized, and managed.

The Finance Department efficiently and effectively manages, controls, and accurately reports on the financial affairs of the City of Lakeland.

The Finance Department operates under the direction and management of the City Commission and the City Manager's Office through which the needs, concerns, and desires of the citizens are ultimately expressed.

As a support function, the Finance Department works in partnership with other City departments to develop budgets, implement control measures, and establish policies and procedures aimed at accurately accounting for, safeguarding, and maximizing the value of the City's assets.

Although it is reflected as a single entity on the City's table of organization¹, in reality the Finance Department is comprised of eight distinct functional areas. The Finance Department's table of organization depicts this structure in detail.

¹Extracted from the most recently published CAFR for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005.

The purpose of the Finance Department is multifaceted and may be best described by summarizing the major duties and responsibilities of the eight functional areas that comprise it. Click on the links (above left) to learn more about the Finance Department and to obtain reports and other information.

Important Note

The documents available from the Finance Department are in portable document format (PDF). Anyone interested in viewing and/or downloading the documents made available here will need to obtain and install Adobe^® Acrobat^® Reader^®. Click the icon below to learn how to obtain this free software.