Glossary

Appendix - Financial Summary: Glossary

Appropriation: An authorization granted by a legislative body to make expenditures and to incur obligations for specific purposes. An appropriation is usually limited in amount and as to the time when it may be expended. Only town meeting can authorize money appropriated for one purpose to be used for another. Any amount that is appropriated may be encumbered (see encumbrance). Any part of an annual operating appropriation not spent or encumbered by June 30 automatically reverts to the undesignated fund balance that may result in free cash. If departments know of remaining unpaid bills at the close of the fiscal year and properly notifies the Town Accountant (MGL Ch. 41 ss. 58), the departmental appropriation is encumbered. This action extends the annual spending authorization until such time that the bill is paid or it is decided not to spend the funds. If these encumbrances are not acted on within ninety days, the Town Accountant generally notifies the department and closes them out. A special purpose appropriation, on the other hand, may carry forward from year to year until spent for the designated purpose or transferred by town meeting vote to another account.

Audit: An examination of systems, procedures, and financial data by a certified public accountant, reporting on the fairness of financial statements and compliance with statutes and regulations. The audit is a valuable management tool for evaluating the fiscal performance of a community.

Available Funds: Funds established through previous appropriations or resulting from financial operations. They may be appropriated to meet unforeseen expenses, or large non-recurring or capital expenditures. Examples include free cash, stabilization fund, overlay surplus, water surplus, and enterprise retained earnings.

Betterments (Special Assessments): Whenever a limited area of a community receives benefit from a public improvement (e.g., water, road, sewer, sidewalk, etc.), special property taxes may be assessed to reimburse the governmental entity for all or part of the costs it incurred. Each parcel receiving benefit from the improvement is assessed for a proportionate share of the cost of such improvements. The proportionate share may be paid in full, or the property owner may request the assessors to apportion the betterment over a period of up to 20 years. Over the lifetime of the betterment, one year’s apportionment along with one year’s committed interest computed from October 1 to October 1 is added to the tax bill until the betterment has been paid.

Bond: A written promise to pay a specified sum of money, called the face value (par value) or principal amount, at a specified date in the future, called the maturity date, together with periodic interest at a specified rate. The difference between a note and a bond is that the latter runs for a longer period of time.

Bond Anticipation Note (BAN): A short-term note to provide cash for initial project costs issued in anticipation of bond proceeds. BANs may be issued for a period not to exceed five years, provided principal repayment begins after two years. Communities with approved projects on the School Building Assistance (SBA) priority list may defer principal payments up to five years (approved annually in outside sections of the budget). The final maturity date of the project borrowing, beginning from the date the short-term note was issued, may not exceed the term specified by statute. BANs are full faith and credit obligations.

Bond Authorized And Unissued: Bond authorized but not yet sold. Issuance is contingent only on action by the Town Treasurer and a majority of the Board of Selectmen.

Bond Counsel: An attorney or law firm engaged to review and submit an opinion on the legal aspects of a municipal bond or note issue.

Bond Issue: Generally represents the sale of a certain number of bonds at one time by a governmental unit.

Bond Rating (Municipal): A credit rating to help investors determine the risk of losing money in a given fixed-income investment. Agencies specializing in municipal bonds assign a rating, designated by letters or a combination of letters and numerals, based on their opinion of the future ability, legal obligation, and willingness of a bond issuer to make timely debt service payments.

Budget: A plan of financial operation embodying an estimate of proposed revenues and expenditures for a given period and the proposed means of financing them. A budget may be “preliminary” (the financial plan presented to the town meeting), or “final” (the plan approved by that body). The budget should be separated into basic units, either by department, program, or service. Formatting the budget in this way helps local officials and citizens make policy decisions when allocating scarce resources. It is also important to include as much information as possible concerning the output or accomplishments expected of a given program or department during the year.

Capital Improvements Program: A comprehensive plan for planning a community’s capital expenditures. It coordinates community planning, fiscal capacity and physical development. While all of the community’s needs should be identified in the program, there is a set of criteria that prioritizes the expenditures. The capital program is a plan for capital expenditures that usually extends at least five years beyond the capital budget.

Capital Outlay Expenditure Exclusion: A vote by a community at an election to exclude payments for a capital project from the levy limit. The exclusion may temporarily increase the levy above the levy ceiling.

Cash: Currency, coin, checks and bankers’ drafts on hand or on deposit with an official or agent designated as custodian of cash and bank deposits.

Cash Management: The process of managing a local government’s money in order to ensure maximum cash availability and maximum yield on short-term investment of idle cash.

Cemetery Perpetual Care: Funds donated by individuals for the care of gravesites. According to MGL, funds from this account must be invested and spent as directed by perpetual care agreements. If no agreements exist, the interest (but not principal) may be used as directed by the Cemetery Commissioners for the purpose of maintaining cemeteries.

Chapter 90 Highway Funds: The state legislature authorizes and issues transportation capital bonds every few years. In each Transportation Bond, funds are apportioned to communities based upon a formula under the provisions of MGL Ch. 90 ss. 34, hence the terms Chapter 90 funds. The Chapter 90 highway formula is comprised of three variables: local road mileage as certified by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD), employment figures from the Department of Employment and Training (DET), and population estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau. Under this formula, those communities with a larger number of road miles receive proportionately more aid than those with fewer road miles. These funds are reimbursed to communities based upon certified expenditure reports submitted to MHD.

Cherry Sheets: Named for the cherry colored paper on which they were originally printed, the Cherry Sheets are the official notification of the next fiscal year’s state aid and assessments to communities and regional school districts from the Commissioner of Revenue. State aid to municipalities and regional school districts consist of two major types – distributions and reimbursement. Distributions provide funds based on formulas while reimbursements provide funds for costs incurred during a period for certain programs or services. In addition, communities may receive “offset items” that must be spent on specific programs. Cherry Sheet assessments are advance estimates of state assessments and charges. Local assessors are required to use these figures in setting the local tax rate. Because these figures are estimates, it should be noted that based upon filing requirements and/or actual information, the final aid or assessment may differ.

Cherry Sheet Offset Items: Local aid accounts that may be spent without appropriation in the budget, but which must be spent for specific municipal and regional school district programs. Current offset items include racial equality grants, school lunch grants, and public libraries grants.

Collective Bargaining: The negotiations between an employer and union representative regarding wages, hours, and working conditions.

Conservation Fund: This fund may be expended for lawful conservation purposes as described in MGL Ch. 40 ss. 8C. It may also be expended for damages related to the taking of land by eminent domain provided that such taking has first been approved by two-thirds vote of town meeting.

Contingent Appropriation: An appropriation that authorizes spending for a particular purpose upon the occurrence of a later event. The grant of spending authority made by an appropriation must be certain at the time of the vote and, therefore, contingent appropriations are not generally permissible. Under MGL Ch. 59 ss. 21C(m), however, towns may make appropriations from the tax levy, available funds or borrowing, contingent upon the subsequent passage of a Proposition 2-½ override or exclusion question for the same purpose.

Debt Authorization: Formal approval by a two-thirds vote of town meeting to incur debt, in accordance with procedures stated in MGL Ch. 44.

Debt Exclusion: A vote by a municipality at an election to exclude debt service payments for a particular capital project form the levy limit. The amount necessary to cover the annual debt service payment is added to the levy limit for the life of the debt only. A debt exclusion may temporarily increase the levy above the levy ceiling.

Debt Limit: The maximum amount of debt that a municipality may have authorized for qualified purposes under state law.

Debt Service: The cost usually stated in annual terms, of the principal repayment and interest of any particular issue.

Deficit: The excess of expenditures over revenues during an accounting period. Also refers to the excess of the liabilities of a fund over its assets.

Education Reform Act Of 1993: An act that seek to remedy educational funding inequities between local communities by providing adequate state funding over a seven year period for all local and regional school districts and by mandating equity based upon a particular community’s ability to pay. One of the Act’s major goals is to improve student achievement.

Eminent Domain: The power of a government to take property for public purposes by condemnation provided that fair compensation is paid to the owner. This method is frequently used to obtain real property that cannot be purchased from owners by means of a voluntary transaction.

Encumbrance: Obligations in the form of purchase orders, contracts, or salary commitments that are chargeable to an appropriation and for which a part of the appropriations is reserved.

Enterprise Fund:Those funds which are established for specific uses under M.G.L. c.44, §53F1/2 that require an annual appropriation to operate (i.e. The Brewster Water Department). Enterprise fund revenue streams are segregated from the general fund into a separate fund and available as a separate financing source for services that generate, or for purposes supported by, those revenues. These include the revenues of enterprise funds established for services typically financed and delivered in a manner similar to private enterprises for the purpose of accounting for all costs, direct or indirect, of providing the services.

Estimated Receipts: An estimate of state and local miscellaneous receipts based upon the previous year’s receipts that assessors deduct from the gross amount to be raised in order to arrive at the tax levy.

Excess And Deficiency: Also called the “surplus revenue” account, this is the amount by which cash, accounts receivable, and other assets exceed a regional school district’s liabilities and reserves as certified by the Director of Accounts. The calculation is made based upon the balance sheet that is submitted by the district’s auditor, accountant, or comptroller as of June 30. The regional school committee must apply certified amounts exceeding five percent of the district’s prior year operating and capital costs to reduce the assessment on member cities and towns.

Excess Levy Capacity: The difference between the levy limit and the amount of real and personal property taxes actually levied in a given year. Annually, the Board of Selectmen must be informed of excess levy capacity and their acknowledgment must be submitted to the Department of Revenue when setting the tax rate.

Fiscal Year: Since 1974, the Commonwealth and municipalities have operated on a budget cycle that begins July 1 and ends June 30. The designation of the fiscal year is that of the calendar year in which the fiscal year ends. For example, the 2020 fiscal year is July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 and is usually written as FY2020. Since 1976, the federal government has had a fiscal year that begins October 1 and ends September 30.

Fixed Costs: Costs that are legally or contractually mandated such as retirement, FICA/Social Security, insurance, debt service or interest costs.

Foundation Budget: The target imposed by the Education Reform Act of 1993 for each school district, defining the spending level necessary to provide an adequate education for all students.

Free Cash: Unrestricted funds from operations of the previous fiscal year that are certified by the Director of Accounts as available for appropriation. Remaining funds include unexpended free cash from the previous year, receipts in excess of estimates shown on the tax recapitulation sheet, and unspent amounts in budget line-items. Unpaid property taxes and certain deficits reduce the amount that can be certified as free cash. The calculation of free cash is based upon the balance sheet as of June 30, which is submitted by the Town Accountant. A community should maintain a free cash balance to provide a hedge against unforeseen expenditures and to ensure there will be an adequate reserve to prevent sharp fluctuations in the tax rate. Maintenance of an adequate free cash level is not a luxury but a necessary component of sound local fiscal management. Credit rating agencies and other members of the financial community expect municipalities to maintain free cash reserves and make judgments regarding a community’s fiscal stability, in part, on the basis of free cash.

Fund: An accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts that are segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with specific regulations, restrictions, or limitations.

Fund Accounting: Organizing the financial records of a municipality into multiple funds. A fund is a distinct entity within the municipal government in which financial resources and activity (assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenues and expenditures) are accounted for independently in accordance with specific regulations, restrictions and limitations. Examples of funds include the general fund and enterprise funds.

General Fund: The fund used to account for most financial resources and activities governed by the normal town meeting appropriation process.

General Obligation (GO) Bonds: Bonds issued by a municipality that are backed by the full faith and credit of its taxing authority.

Hotel/Motel Excise: A local option that allows a community to assess a tax on room occupancy. The community may levy up to 6% of the taxable rents of hotels, motels and lodging houses in that community.

Indirect Cost: Costs of a service not reflected in the service’s operating budget. An example of an indirect cost of providing water service would be health insurance costs for water department employees. A determination of these costs is necessary to analyze the total cost of service delivery and a Mutual Agreement for reporting and paying indirect costs is required between the Select Board and respective Department / Committee.

Interest: Compensation paid or to be paid for the use of money, including amounts payable at periodic intervals or discounted at the time a loan is made.

Interest Rate: The interest payable, expressed as a percentage of the principal available, for use during a specified period of time. It is always expressed in annual terms.

Law Enforcement Trust Fund: A revolving fund established to account for a portion of the proceeds from the sale of property seized from illegal drug-related activities. Funds may be expended to defray certain qualified law enforcement costs as outlined in MGL Ch. 94C ss. 47. Funds from this account may be expended by the Police Chief without further appropriation.

Levy: The amount a community raises through the property tax. The levy can be any amount up to the levy limit.

Levy Ceiling: The maximum levy assessed on real and personal property may not exceed 2 ½ percent of the total full and fair cash value of all taxable property (MGL Ch. 59 ss. 21C). Property taxes levied may exceed this limit only if the community passes a capital exclusion, a debt exclusion, or a special exclusion.

Levy Limit: The maximum amount a community can levy in a given year. The limit can grow each year by 2 ½ percent of the prior year’s levy limit plus new growth and any overrides. The levy limit can exceed the levy ceiling only if the community passes a capital expenditure exclusion, debt exclusion, or special exclusion.

Line-Item Budget: A budget that focuses on inputs of categories of spending, such as supplies, equipment, maintenance, or salaries, as opposed to a program budget.

Local Aid: Revenue allocated by the commonwealth to cities, towns, and regional school districts. Estimates of local aid are transmitted to cities, towns, and districts annually by the “Cherry Sheets”. Most Cherry Sheet aid programs are considered revenues of the municipality’s or regional school districts’ general fund and may be spent for any purpose, subject to appropriation.

Local Receipts: Locally generated revenues, other than real and personal property taxes and enterprise fund revenues. Examples include motor vehicle excise, investment income, hotel/motel tax, fees, rentals, and charges. Annual estimates of local receipts are shown on the tax rate recapitulation sheet.

Motor Vehicle Excise (MVE): Every motor vehicle and trailer registered in the Commonwealth is subject to the MVE unless expressly exempted. MVE is imposed for the privilege of registering a motor vehicle. Registering a motor vehicle automatically triggers the assessment of the excise.

Municipal(s): Municipal refers to any state or subordinate governmental unit. “Municipals” (i.e., municipal bonds) include not only the bonds of all local subdivisions, such as cities, towns, school districts, special districts, but also bonds of the state and agencies of the state.

Municipal Revenue Growth Factor (MRGF): An estimate of the percentage change in a municipality’s revenue growth for a fiscal year. It represents the combined percentage increase in the following revenue components; automatic 2 ½ percent increase in the levy limit, estimated new growth, the change in selected unrestricted state aid categories, and the change in selected unrestricted local receipts (Education Reform Act of 1993).

Net School Spending (NSS): School budget and municipal budget amounts attributable to education, excluding long-term debt service, student transportation, school lunches and certain other specified school expenditures. A community’s NSS funding must equal or exceed the NSS Requirement established annually by the Department of Education (DOE) (Education Reform Act of 1993).

New Growth: The taxing capacity added by new construction and other increases in the property tax base. New growth is calculated by multiplying all increases in value which are not the result of revaluation by the tax rate of the previous fiscal year, for example, FY2000 new growth is determined by multiplying the value on January 1, 1999 by the FY1999 tax rate. Assessors must submit documentation of new growth to the BLA annually before setting the tax rate. Documentation should be retained for five years in the event of a BLA audit.

Operating Budget: A plan of proposed expenditures for personnel, supplies, and other expenses for the coming fiscal year.

Overlay (Overlay Reserve or Allowance for Abatements and Exemptions): An account established annually to fund anticipated property tax abatements, exemptions and uncollected taxes in that year. The overlay reserve is not established by the normal appropriation process, but rather is raised on the tax rate recapitulation sheet.

Overlay Surplus: Any balance in the overlay account in excess of the amount remaining to be collected or abated can be transferred into this account. Within ten days of a written request by the chief executive officer of a city or town, the Board of Assessors must provide a certification of the excess amount of overlay available to transfer. Overlay surplus may be appropriated for any lawful purpose. At the end of each fiscal year, unused overlay surplus is “closed” to surplus revenue.

Override: A vote by a community at an election to permanently increase the levy limit. An override vote may increase the levy limit no higher than the levy ceiling. The override question on the election ballot must state a purpose for the override and the dollar amount).

Override Capacity: The difference between a community’s levy ceiling and its levy limit. It is the maximum amount by which a community may override its levy limit.

Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT): An agreement between a municipality and an entity not subject to taxation, such as charitable or educational organizations, in which the payer agrees to make a voluntary payment to the municipality. By law, a city or town must make such payment to any other community in which it owns land used for public purposes.

Proposition 2 ½ (Prop 2 ½): M.G.L. c.59, §21C was enacted in 1980 and limits the amount of revenue a city or town may raise from local property taxes each year. This amount is the community’s annual levy limit. The law allows the levy limit to increase each year by 2.5% plus any new growth revenue derived from taxes from new construction and alterations. This amount may not exceed the community’s levy ceiling. Proposition 2 ½ also established two types of voter approved increases in local taxing authority – overrides and exclusions.

Receipts Reserved: Proceeds that are earmarked by law and placed in separate accounts for appropriation for particular purposes. For example, parking meter proceeds may be appropriated to offset certain expenses for parking meters and the regulation of parking and other traffic activities.

Reserve Fund: An amount set aside annually within the budget of a city (not to exceed 3% of the tax levy for the preceding year) or town (not to exceed 5% of the tax levy for the preceding year) to provide a funding source for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures. In a town, the Finance Committee can authorize transfers from this fund for “extraordinary or unforeseen” expenditures. Other uses of the fund require budgetary transfers by town meeting.

Revenue Anticipation Borrowing: Cities, towns and districts may issue temporary notes in anticipation of taxes (TAN’s) or other revenue (RAN’s). The amount of this type of borrowing is limited to the total of the prior year’s tax levy, the net amount collected in motor vehicle and trailer excise in the prior year and payments made by the Commonwealth in lieu of taxes in the prior year. According to MGL Ch. 44 ss. 4, cities, towns and districts may borrow for up to one year in anticipation of such revenue.

Revenue Anticipation Note (RAN): A short-term loan issued to be paid off by revenues, such as tax collections and state aid. RANs are full faith and credit obligations.

Revenue Bond: A bond payable from and secured solely by specific revenues and thereby not a full faith and credit obligation.

Revolving Fund: Allows a community to raise revenues from a specific service and use those revenues without appropriation to support the service. For departmental revolving funds, MGL Ch 44 ss. 52E ½ requires each revolving fund must be established by ordinance or charter and stipulates that each fund must be re-authorized each year at annual town meeting action, and that a limit on the total amount that may be spent form each fund must be established at that time. The aggregate of all revolving funds may not exceed ten percent of the amount raised by taxation by the town in the most recent fiscal year, and not more than one percent of the amount raised by taxation may be administered by a single fund. Wages and salaries for full-time employees may be paid from the revolving fund only if the fund is also charged for all associated fringe benefits. Revolving funds for other programs as provided by statute are still allowed, and a departmental revolving fund may be implemented in addition to or in conjunction with other existing statutory revolving funds, provided that the departmental revolving fund does not conflict with provisions of other revolving funds.

Sale Of Cemetery Lots Fund: A fund established to account for proceeds of the sale of cemetery lots. The proceeds may only be appropriated to pay for the cost of the land, its care and improvement or the enlargement of the cemetery under provisions of MGL Ch. 144 ss. 15.

Stabilization Fund: A fund designed to accumulate amounts for capital and other future spending purposes, although it may be appropriated for any lawful purpose. Communities may appropriate into this fund in any year an amount and any interest shall be added to and become a part of the fund. A two-thirds vote of town meeting is required to appropriate money from the Stabilization Fund.

State Aid Anticipation Note (SAAN): A short-term loan issued in anticipation of a state grant or aid (MGL Ch. 44 ss. 6A).

State House Notes: Debt instruments for cities, towns, counties and districts certified by the Director of Accounts. State House Notes, payable annually, are usually limited to maturities of five years. The notes are generally less costly and easier to issue than conventional issues for borrowing. They are commonly used for temporary loans and smaller long-term issues.

Tax Rate: The amount of property tax stated in terms of a unit of the municipal tax base; for example, $14.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation of taxable real and personal property.

Tax Rate Recapitulation Sheet (Recap Sheet): A document submitted by a city or town to the Department of Revenue in order to set a property tax rate. The recap sheet shows all estimated revenues and actual appropriations that affect the property tax rate. The recap sheet should be submitted to the Department of Revenue by September 1 (in order to issue the first-half semiannual property tax bills before October) or by December 1 (in order to issue the third quarterly property tax bills before January 1).

Five Year Valuation Certification: The Commissioner of Revenue is required to review local assessments every five years and to certify that they represent FFCV. The Bureau of Local Assessments is responsible for this process.

Trust Fund: In general, a fund held for the specific purpose stipulated by a trust agreement. The Town Treasurer acts as a custodian of trust funds and invests and expends such funds as stipulated by trust agreements or as directed by the Commissioners of Trust Funds or by town meeting. Both principal and interest may be used if the trust is established as an expendable trust. For non-expendable trust funds, interest but not principal may be expended as directed.

Underride: A vote by a community to permanently decrease the tax levy limit. As such, it is the exact opposite of an override.

Unfunded Pension Liability: Unfunded pension liability is the difference between the value assigned to the retirement benefits already earned by a municipality’s employees and the assets the local retirement system will have on hand to meet these obligations. The dollar value of the unfunded pension liability is driven by assumptions about interest rates at which a retirement system’s assets will grow and the rate of future costs of living increases to pensioners.

Uniform Municipal Accounting System (UMAS): The Department of Revenue regards UMAS as the professional standard for municipal account system that conforms to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles modern municipal accounting in Massachusetts. Among the benefits of conversion to UMAS is increased consistency in reporting and record keeping and enhanced comparability of data among cities and towns.

Unreserved Fund Balance (Surplus Revenue Account): The amount by which cash, accounts receivable, and other assets exceed liabilities and restricted reserves. It is akin to a “stockholders’ equity” account on a corporate balance sheet. It is not, however, available for appropriation in full because a portion of the assets listed as “accounts receivable” may be taxes receivable and uncollected.

Warrant: An authorization for an action. For example, a town meeting warrant establishes the matters that may be acted upon by that town meeting. A treasury warrant authorizes the treasurer to pay specific bills. The assessors’ warrant authorizes the tax collector to collect taxes in the amount and from the persons listed, respectively.

Water Surplus: For water departments operating under MGL Ch. 41 ss. 69B, any revenues in excess of estimated water receipts or unspent water appropriations closeout to a water surplus account. Water surplus may be appropriated to fund water-related general and capital expenses or to reduce water rates.

Waterways Improvement Fund: An account into which fifty percent of the proceeds of the boat excise is deposited. Use of these proceeds is limited to certain waterway expenses as outlined in MGL Ch. 40 ss. 5G.