10-10-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. Assigned and Authority to Assign Amounts that are constrained by government's intent to use for specified purposes, but are neither restricted nor committed. Assigned fund balance in the General Fund includes amounts that are intended to be used for specific purposes, such as payouts of compensated absences. The City Council has delegated the authority to assign and remove assignments of fund balances for specified purposes to the City Administrator and /or Finance Director. III. GENERAL FUND CASH FLOW POLICY The General Fund is established to account for all revenues and expenditures which are not required to be accounted for in other funds. Revenue sources include property taxes, license and permit fees, fines and forfeits, service charges, intergovernmental revenues, investment interest earnings, and transfers. The General Funds' resources finance a wide range of functions including the operations of general government, public safety, and public works. The City will strive to maintain an unassigned minimum fund balance in the General Fund in the range of 42.5% to 65% of the subsequent year's budgeted expenditures. Since a significant source of revenue in the General Fund connes from property taxes, maintaining a fund balance that is equal to five and one half months of operating expenditures ensures that sufficient resources are available to fund basic City functions between property tax settlements. Amounts that exceed 65% may be transferred out to other funds. An assignment of commitment of fund balance may be used to offset revenues earned in one year where substantial services are required to be performed in the next fiscal period. IV. CASH FLOW ASSUMPTIONS When both restricted and unrestricted resources are available for use, it is the city's policy to first use restricted resources, and then use unrestricted resources as they are needed. When unrestricted resources are available for use, it is the city's policy to use resources in the following order: 1) committed, 2) assigned, 3) unassigned. These fund balance classifications apply only to Governmental Funds, not Enterprise Funds. 4