Auditor

A community may improve its free cash and financial reserves through prudent financial planning and development of sound financial policies. The community could also establish policies to build its free cash balance such as conservatively estimating local receipts and aggressively pursuing the collection of receivables. Since free cash is an available fund that might not be generated in the next fiscal year, it is usually not used to fund recurring operating expenses.

A formal reserve policy will allow the community to establish a practice of appropriating money to legal reserves for future needs. Appropriations to reserves should be considered annually as a part of the budget process and appropriations from reserves should be made for unanticipated or capital costs, not regular operating expenses.

A community’s free cash is the amount of unrestricted funds available from the previous fiscal year’s general fund operations that can be appropriated upon certification by the Director of Accounts. Free cash is certified based upon the June 30 balance sheet submitted by the town accountant/city auditor. The treasurer must also submit the Quarterly Reconciliation of Treasurer’s cash report, which reconciles with the balance of the accountant, for free cash to be certified.
Free cash is generated when the actual operations of the fiscal year compare favorably with the budget. Simply put, it results when revenue collections are greater than estimated receipts, and expenditures and encumbrances (committed funds not yet expended) are less than appropriations. It is reduced by illegal deficits, overdrawn grant accounts and deficits in other funds.

A capital improvement plan (CIP) should include a multi-year capital plan and annual capital budget for all community departments. These documents should: (1) prioritize the various proposed capital projects; (2) estimate project costs; and (3) list the proposed method of payment (current revenue, debt or debt excluded from the limits of Proposition 21Ž2) for each project. Regardless of funding ability, annual presentation of a capital budget to the legislative body has merit. It serves to inform citizens of the community’s capital needs and makes them aware of essential projects that may be deferred due to financial constraints.

Free cash must be certified by the Director of Accounts as of July 1 of each fiscal year upon submission of a community’s balance sheet, and cannot be appropriated until certified. Once free cash is certified, it is available for appropriation by the town meeting or city council. It may be used for any legal purpose. However, depleting free cash to balance annual operating budgets may lead to tighter financial times. Free cash provides communities with a certain flexibility in that it is the major source of funding for any supplemental appropriations after the annual budget has been adopted and the tax rate has been set.

Enterprise accounting enables a community to operate a self-supported service and demonstrate to the public the true cost of providing a utility, health care, recreational or transportation services the service. Enterprise accounting allows a community to recover all direct (salaries, expenses, debt and capital) and indirect (insurance, fringe benefits, and support of other departments) costs. Enterprise accounting will also enable the community to legally retain a fund balance surplus from year to year, the use of which will be restricted to current operating or future capital/debt costs of the service.

A community may choose to adopt an enterprise fund for two main reasons. One reason is that the community wants to demonstrate to the public which portion of the total costs of a service is recovered through user charges versus the tax levy.