General Fund Overview
Fund 0001
What is the General Fund?
The General Fund provides the most discretionary funding for County operations. Common departments that would fall under the General Fund would be administrative, law enforcement, community development departments, recreation and library services. Each fund is a distinct division for accounting and budgeting purposes, however if there is a shortfall in another fund, discretionary funds from the General Fund may be diverted to cover the additional costs.
All General Fund Revenues
* Each department is part of a "Fund". Many times, a department or even a fund may show greater expense then revenues for the current fiscal year. This does not account for money that was not spent in prior years, also known as "beginning fund balance". To see beginning fund balances for each fund click here. When creating the annual budget Counties are required by law to adopt a balanced budget, meaning the total expense cannot exceed the sum of revenue plus beginning fund balances.
As seen in the interactive table above, over 60% of revenues in the General Fund fall under the "General Government" category.
Of this amount over 90% falls under "General Fund-Misc" which breaks down in this interactive pie chart.
Local Taxes
The largest 3 tax revenue sources for the General Fund are:
- Property Tax
- Transient Occupancy Tax
- Sales and Use Tax
While individual distributions vary by location, this pie chart shows how the Local Property Taxes are distributed to public agencies in Tuolumne County in aggregate.
The Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is paid for by travelers that rent lodging in Tuolumne County and other incorporated areas across California. The TOT rate in Tuolumne County is 10% and, unlike property tax and sales tax, 100% of the funding goes to the County's General Fund. The County then allocates 25% of these funds to the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau for marketing and visitor engagement.
It is sometimes thought that the entirety of the Sales and Use tax goes to Local Governments. However at a tax rate of 7.25%, the picture above shows how this tax is distributed for sales in the unincorporated areas of the County. What this means is for every $7.25 you pay in sales tax only $1.00 comes back to the Tuolumne County General Fund.
Over 50% of General Fund Expenses go towards the Public Protection category which includes the divisions of the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office, Probation, the Regional Juvenile Center, Emergency Services, District Attorney, Public Defender, Ag, and Community Development. Of note, this does not include Public Works, Fire, or Health and Human Services as these are separate funds and the transfers to those funds are categorized under "Debt Service."
Approximately 25% of the General Fund Expenses are attributed to General Government such as the County Auditor's Office, Treasurer Tax Collector, Assessor Recorder, County Administrator's Office, Board of Supervisors, Information Technology (IT), Facilities Management, Human Resources, Surveyor and GIS, as well as Contingencies and Outside Agency Contributions.
For more information on each of these departments and others, please view the attached department breakdown stories.