Acronyms and Glossary

Acronyms

ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act

ARPA: American Rescue Plan Act

CAFR: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

CARES: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act

CDBG: Community Development Block Grant

CFS: Calls for Service

CIP: Capital Improvement Program

CTL: Crafts, Trades and Labor

COPS: Community Oriented Policing Services

COVID-19: Coronavirus Disease 2019

CPI: Consumer Price Index

DNR: Department of Natural Resources

EMS: Emergency Medical Services

EPA: Environmental Protection Agency

FAA: Federal Aviation Administration

FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency

FPS: Fire Protection

FTE: Full-Time Equivalents

GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

GASB: Governmental Accounting Standards Board

GFOA: Government Finance Officers Association

GIS: Geographic Information System

Acronyms (continued)

HIDTA: High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas

HUD: Housing and Urban Development

IAFF: International Association of Fire Fighters

IBEW: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

LAGERS: Local Government Employees Retirement System

LES: Law Enforcement

LEST: Law Enforcement Sales Tax

LPT: Level Property Tax

MDNR: Missouri Department of Natural Resources

MODOT: Missouri Department of Transportation

MS4: Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System

MSA: Metropolitan Statistical Area

MSU: Missouri State University

OCP: Overflow Control Plan

OEM: Office of Emergency Management

PAT: Professional, Administrative and Technical

PILOT: Payment In Lieu Of Taxes

SAFER: Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response

SPOA: Springfield Police Officers Association

TIF: Tax Increment Financing

WIC Women, Infants and Children

Glossary of Terms

Accountability – Monitoring, measuring, and evaluating the performance and progress of policies, plans and programs to ensure that results are achieved.

Accrual Accounting – A basis of accounting in which revenues are recognized in the accounting period in which they are earned, and expenses are recognized in the period in which they are incurred.

Adopted (Approved) Budget – The funds appropriated by the City Council at the beginning of the year.

Appropriation – A legal authorization granted by City Council to incur obligations and make expenditures for designated purposes.

Arbitrage – The practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets.

Assessed Valuation – The valuation set upon real estate and certain personal property by the Assessor as a basis for levying property taxes.

Audit – A systemic and independent examination of financial records, reports, or processes.

Balanced Budget – A budget is balanced when current expenditures are equal to current receipts.

Basis of Budgeting – All fund groups are budgeted using the modified accrual basis of accounting. Meaning, expenditures are recognized when the liability is incurred, and revenues are recognized when they become available and measurable.

Bond – A written promise to pay a sum of money on a specific date(s) at a specific interest rate. The interest payments and the repayment of the principal are detailed in a bond ordinance.

Budget – An estimate of expected revenues and expenditures for a given period in the future.

Budget Calendar – The schedule of key dates which the City follows in the preparation of adoption of the annual budget.

Budget Document – The compilation of the individual departmental spending plans for the various funds, along with supporting schedules, tables, and graphs which, in total, comprises the annual revenue and expenditure plan.

Budget Message – The opening section of the budget from the City Manager, which provides the City Council and the public with a general summary of the most important aspects of the budget.

Budget Priorities – Requests made by departments during the budget process for items in addition to the department’s base budget. Priorities may be projects or programs that the department would like to implement or provide to the community, as well as purchases of equipment or services that the department feels would be beneficial in providing quality services to the citizens of the community. Additional personnel positions and contract employees are also requested as budget priorities. If a departmental budget priority is approved then funding is added to the department’s budget for that fiscal year and upcoming fiscal years, if needed (in the case of ongoing projects or personnel additions).

Budgetary Control – The control or management of the organization in accordance with an approved budget for the purpose of keeping expenditures within the limitations of available appropriations and revenues.

Capital Assets – Assets with a cost of $5,000 or greater and an estimated useful life of at least one year. Capital assets include land, buildings, improvements, equipment, and infrastructure assets such as roads, bridges, storm sewers and similar items.

Capital Project Funds – Funds set up to account for resources used for the acquisition or construction of major capital assets by a governmental unit, except those projects financed by an enterprise fund or by a special assessment.

City Council – The Mayor and eight Council members that collectively act as the legislative and policy making body of the City.

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) – A type of federal grant to improve the infrastructure in low to middle income areas of the community. This includes loans to low‐ and middle‐income families for housing rehabilitation. The management of this grant falls under the responsibility of the Planning Department.

Contingency Fund – A budgetary reserve set aside for emergencies and/or unforeseen expenditures not otherwise budgeted.

Debt Service Funds – Funds set up to account for the accumulation of resources and the payment of interest and principal on all “general obligation debt” other than that serviced by enterprise funds or by special assessments in another fund.

Department – An individual section within the City government having a specialized function or activity and a separate spending plan.

Depreciation – A reduction in the value of an asset with the passage of time, due to wear and tear over its estimated useful life.

Encumbrances – Obligations in the form of requisitions, purchase orders, and contracts which are chargeable to an appropriation and for which a part of the appropriation is reserved because the goods or services have not been received. When paid, the encumbrance is eliminated, and an actual expense is recorded.

Enterprise Fund – Funds set up to account for the acquisition and operation of governmental facilities and services that are intended to be primarily (over 50%) self‐supported by user charges.

Expenditures – Decreases in net financial resources that include current operating expenses which require the current or future use of net current assets, debt services, and capital outlays.

Fiscal Policy – A government’s policies with respect to revenues, spending, and debt management as these relate to government services, programs, and capital investment. Fiscal policy provides an agreed upon set of principles for the planning and programming of governmental budgets and their funding.

Fiscal Year – A 12‐month period to which the annual budget applies. The City of Springfield has specified July 1 to June 30 as its fiscal year.

Fixed Asset – Assets of long‐term nature that are intended to continue to be held or used, such as land, buildings, machinery, furniture, and other equipment.

Full‐Time Equivalents (FTEs) – Employee positions, which are authorized in the adopted budget, to be filled during the year. One FTE is equivalent to a 40‐hour per week position.

Fund – An accounting device established to control receipt and disbursement of income from sources set aside to support specific activities or attain certain objectives. Each fund is treated as a distinct fiscal entity with a self‐balancing set of accounts.

Fund Balance – The excess of a fund’s current assets over its current liabilities. A negative fund balance is often referred to as a deficit.

Glossary of Terms (continued)

General Fund – A fund set up to account for the ordinary operations of a governmental unit that are financed from taxes and other general revenues. All transactions not accounted for in some other fund are accounted for in this fund.

Governmental Funds – All fund are classified into one of five fund types: the general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, and permanent funds.

Grant – A contribution by a governmental or other organization to support a particular function. Typically, these contributions are made to local governments from state or federal governments.

Gross Receipts – A licensing tax on telecommunication companies. The City Charter requires all phone companies to pay a license tax of six percent of gross receipts and all cable television

service providers to pay a license tax of five percent.

Internal Service Funds – Funds set up to account for goods and services provided by designated departments on a (cost reimbursement) fee basis to other governmental units.

Major Fund – A fund whose revenues, expenditures/expenses, assets, or liabilities are at least 10% of the total for all governmental funds and 5% of both governmental and enterprise funds per

GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) Statement # 34.

Mission – A broad statement of the goals, in terms of meeting public service needs, that a department or organization is formed to meet.

Modified Accrual Accounting – A basis of accounting which is a mixture of accrual accounting and cash basis accounting. Expenditures are recognized when the liability is incurred, and revenues are recognized when they become available and measurable.

Operating Budget – The financial plan adopted for a single fiscal year. The “proposed budget” designates the financial plan initially developed by departments and presented by the City Manager to the City Council for approval. The “adopted budget” is the plan as modified and finally approved by the City Council. The adopted budget is authorized by ordinance and thus establishes the legal spending limits for the fiscal year.

Organization Chart – A flowchart or picture representation of the employee positions within a department and the hierarchy related to those positions.

Ozark Greenways – A citizen’s group dedicated to the preservation of greenspace through the creation of linear parks.

Performance Measures – Specific quantitative measures for work performed within an activity or program.

Projected Revenues – The amount of estimated revenues to be collected during the fiscal year.

Proprietary Funds – Accounts for services for which the city charges a fee, internally and externally. There are two types of proprietary funds, enterprise and internal service.

Resources – Total dollars available for appropriation including estimated revenues, transfers, and beginning fund balance.

Revenues – All amounts of money received by a government from external sources other than expense refunds, capital contributions, and residual equity transfers.

Salary Schedules – The City of Springfield’s merit pay system is set up on a step and grade scale under four main salary schedule types. Craft, Trades and Labor (CTL), Fire Protection (FPS), Law Enforcement (LES), and Professional, Administrative and Technical (PAT).

Special Revenue Funds – Funds set up to account for revenues from specific taxes or other earmarked sources that (by law) are designated to finance particular activities of government.

Springfield MSA – The Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of a 5‐county region in Southwest Missouri including: Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk, and Dallas counties.

Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) – A geographical area or district created under Missouri law to encourage development of the area within its boundaries by the reinvestment of half of the

incremental tax growth generated by property value increases and new development within the district.

Tax Levy – The resultant product when the tax rate per one hundred dollars is multiplied by the tax base.

Transfers In/Out – Amounts transferred from one fund to another to assist in financing the services for the recipient fund.

TV23 – The City of Springfield’s Government Cable Channel.

Unions – The City of Springfield has collective bargaining agreements with three employee unions. International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

(IBEW), and Springfield Police Officers Association (SPOA).

Watershed Committee of the Ozarks – A non‐profit corporation whose focus is to preserve and improve the water supplies of Springfield and Greene County through education and effective management of the region’s watersheds.