Accounting Basis and Program Structure

ACCOUNTING BASIS

All governmental fund type annual operating budgets are adopted on a basis of accounting consistent with generally accepted governmental accounting principles except for the Capital Improvement Program/Transportation Improvement Program (CIP/TIP) projects which are reviewed biennially and adopted on a project by project basis.

Basis of accounting refers to when revenues and expenditures or expenses are recognized and reported in the financial statements, regardless of the measurement focus applied. All governmental and agency funds are accounted for using the modified accrual basis of accounting. Revenues are recognized when they become measurable and available as net current assets. Measurable means the amount of the transaction can be determined and is available, i.e., collectible within the current period or soon enough thereafter (generally sixty days) to be used to pay liabilities of the current period. Amounts which cannot be measured or are not available are not accrued as revenue in the current year.

Those revenues susceptible to accrual are sales and franchise taxes, interest revenue and some charges for services. Fines, licenses and permits revenues are not susceptible to accrual because they are generally not measurable until received. Long-term notes receivable have been offset with an entry to deferred revenue or a reservation of fund balance to reflect interest and principal, respectively, and the fact that these revenues are not currently available.

Expenditures are generally recognized under the modified accrual basis of accounting when the related fund liability is incurred. Exceptions to this general rule include accumulated unpaid vacation, sick pay and other employee amounts which are accrued in the general long-term obligation account group, and principal and interest on general long-term debt which is recognized when due. Financial resources usually are appropriated in other funds for transfer to a debt service fund in the period in which maturing debt principal and interest must be paid. Such amounts are therefore not current liabilities of the debt service fund, as their settlement will not require expenditure of existing fund assets.

All proprietary funds, the internal service funds, and the pension trust fund are budgeted for using the accrual basis of accounting. Their revenues are recognized when they are earned and their expenses are recognized when they are incurred. Depreciation and amortization are charged, but they are not reflected in the budget.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

A number of Departments have reconfigured their program structure from the prior year as a result of developing their Performance-Based Budgets. As such, prior year comparisons cannot be made in the individual program summaries. For those individual programs, a N/A (not applicable) is noted in the prior year columns.

The material in this section is intended to assist the reader by giving an overall summary of each Department’s expenditures and personnel allocations proposed for FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 as compared to actual or budgeted amounts in the four preceding fiscal years. Comparisons are made at the Department level and include all funding sources.

A brief summary is given if the proposed budget contains any significant changes for the prior year that affect expenditures and personnel. Rental charges for equipment and facilities are now proportionately assigned to each Department as an expense. Also expensed to each Department are the operational costs for each Internal Service Fund. These charges are shown under the “Fixed Charges” category. The total operational and replacement expense is offset equally by revenue to the appropriate Internal Service Fund.

Operations for the Internal Service Funds are shown in the appropriate Departmental Summary. The Information Technology Replacement Fund, shown in the Information Technology Department, includes computers and peripherals, telecommunications and other office equipment. The Building Maintenance and Fleet Replacement Funds are included with the Public Works Department. The Workers’ Compensation, Risk Management and Post Retirement Healthcare Benefits Funds are considered non-departmental and are not included in any departments’ totals.