What is Fund Accounting?

Fund accounting is a method of accounting specifically designed to handle the financial transactions of different funds or accounts within a single organization. Instead of having one general account for all income and expenses, fund accounting creates separate funds for specific purposes, ensuring that financial resources are appropriately allocated and reported.

Each fund represents a distinct pool of money with its own designated purpose and restrictions on how it can be used. For example, we propose that our agency should have different funds for operating expenses and capital projects.

Why should we use Fund Accounting?

By using fund accounting, we can separate the funds dedicated to capital projects from those designated for day-to-day operations. This separation allows us to better manage these funds, ensuring that they are appropriately used for their intended purposes and that we can report on their financial status accurately.

Historically, Smith County ESD2, has operated with only one fund, the General Operating Fund. This means that all the financial transactions, including income, operating expenses, and capital expenses were recorded within a single fund. While this approach might have worked in the past, it presents several key challenges, as follows:

• Lack of Accountability: With all financial transactions mixed in one fund, it becomes challenging to distinguish between operational expenses and capital improvements. This could lead to a lack of accountability in how resources are allocated and used.
• Limited Financial Visibility: Having only one fund obscures the financial visibility of the agency. It becomes harder to assess the financial health of specific programs, projects, or initiatives individually, making it difficult to identify areas for improvement or potential cost-saving opportunities.
• Budgeting Difficulties: A single fund approach can make budgeting complex. Clear budgeting is essential to plan for the future, control expenses, and ensure that financial resources are used optimally.

In response to these challenges, ESD2 is now recommending the introduction of four capital funds in addition to the existing General Operating Fund. In so doing, we aim to create a more robust and transparent financial management system, allowing for improved accountability, enhanced visibility, and ease of budgeting.

Introducing Our New Capital Funds

Now, let's focus on our capital funds. These are funds specifically set aside for long-term investments in assets like capital apparatus, capital real property, capital equipment, and capital technology refresh. These investments are vital for the growth and improvement of our agency's infrastructure and services.

• Capital Apparatus: This fund is used to for acquiring essential fire apparatus and other vehicles such as fire engines and brush trucks for our agency's operations. This may include specialized vehicles, heavy machinery or any other apparatus required to fulfill our mission.
• Capital Real Property: These funds are used for acquiring, constructing, or renovating buildings and other physical properties essential for our agency's functions. It ensures that we have adequate facilities to serve the community effectively.
• Capital Equipment: This fund is set aside for purchasing and maintaining various equipment that aids our agency in delivering services. It could include SCBA compressors, medical equipment, and more.
• Capital Technology: This fund is crucial for keeping our agency up-to-date with the latest technological advancements. It allows us to refresh and upgrade our technology infrastructure regularly, ensuring efficient operations and enhanced services.

Conclusion

By introducing these funds for capital budget items, we making use of a powerful financial management tool that allows us to keep track of various funds separately and ensures the responsible management of our financial resources.

Step 1: Ordinary Transfers

We propose ordinary transfers from the General Operating Fund totaling $4,015,000 to the Capital Funds to support various capital projects. This total transfer amount would be allocated to the various capital funds as follows:

Capital Real Property Fund: $2,000,000 (this may be considered the ordinary, annual allocation from the general operating fund to the capital real property fund).

Capital Apparatus Fund: $2,000,000 (this may be considered the ordinary, annual allocation from the general operating fund to the capital apparatus fund).

Capital Equipment Fund: $15,000 (this may be considered the ordinary, annual allocation from the general operating fund to the capital equipment fund).

Step 2: One-Time Extraordinary Transfers

Although not a formal part of the budget, we wish to bring visibility to a series of proposed one-time extraordinary transfers. That is, we propose to transfer $5,610,000 from the General Operating Fund to the four Capital funds. These are one-time transfers and the purpose is to move the previously designated reserve balances from the General Fund to the new corresponding Capital Funds. After these one-time transfers, the only remaining designated reserve balance in the General fund will be the $10 million designated as a revenue short-fall reserve (a.k.a. rainy day reserve). We have outlined below a summary of these one-time transfers:

Capital Real Property Fund: $3,500,000 (this corresponds to the $2 million in designated capital building reserve plus $1.5 million in the current capital building budget that we expect will be unspent at the end of the year).

Capital Apparatus Fund: $1,110,000 (this corresponds to what we expect to be left of the $2 million designated capital apparatus reserve after accounting for the overages in the current capital apparatus budget).

Capital Equipment Fund: $500,000 (we propose to take this amount from the $1 million designated as emergency reserves as we already have $10 million designated as rainy day reserves).

Capital Technology Fund: $500,000 (we propose to take this amount from the $1 million designated as emergency reserves as we already have $10 million designated as rainy day reserves).

Budgeted Capital Expenses

Capital Apparatus Fund Expenses:

We have outlined various essential projects under the Capital Apparatus Fund, with projected expenses totaling $2,300,000. These investments will significantly enhance our agency's operational capabilities. After accounting for the projected expenses, the Capital Apparatus Fund's remaining balance will be $810,000.

Capital Real Property Fund Expenses:

The Real Property Fund will finance crucial projects aimed at improving our infrastructure and facilities, with projected expenses amounting to $4,098,000. These initiatives will ensure that our agency can continue to provide high-quality services to the community. Following these expenses, the Real Property Fund will have a remaining balance of $1,402,000.

Capital Equipment Fund Expenses:

The Equipment Fund will cover various projects that focus on acquiring and maintaining essential equipment for our agency's operations. Projected expenses for these initiatives total $15,000. After these expenses, the Equipment Fund will maintain a balance of $500,000.

We believe that this financial plan, with the appropriate allocations and projected expenses, will position our agency for continued growth, enhanced service delivery, and improved efficiency in the upcoming period.

Capital Technology Fund Expenses:

There will be no expenses reported out of the technology fund in FY2024, leaving the ending balance at $500,000.