Fort Walton Beach — Fiscal Year 2021-22 Adopted Budget — reading text

achieved through our commitment to the following financial structure and operational changes Core Values: required for financial stability, including the  Integrity: we will conduct ourselves in an honest, capital improvements program and debt trustworthy, and ethical manner. management information.  Accountability: we will take full responsibility for our actions, resources, and attitudes. Operations Guide – The budget provides direction to departments by identifying the  Teamwork: we will work together to provide quality services. relationships between organizational units and  Customer Service: we will be professional, use programs, identifying the workforce and all available resources, and strive to meet the needs historical data on operations, identifying the of our customers. impact of capital spending, and establishing  Continual Improvement: we will promote a measurable performance goals and objectives culture that seeks to better our organization. for managers to evaluate the effectiveness of their organization. Communication Device – The budget is presented in a format that is easily understood using charts and graphs, icons, statistical information, and narrative descriptions. The budget is a financial operational plan estimating expenditure for a given period and the proposed means to finance those objectives. The State of Florida requires municipalities to prepare a balanced budget, whereby enough resources must be identified to fund programs and services. The fiscal year for all Florida cities begins October 1st and ends September 30th. The sheer volume and complexity of information can make the budget an imposing document. The reader should always keep in mind that this document answers two core questions: “Where is the City of Fort Walton Beach’s money coming from?” and “How will that money be used?” FUND STRUCTURE An important concept in governmental accounting and budgeting is the division of the budget into categories called funds. Funds are separate fiscal accounting entities. Budgeting and accounting for revenues and expenditures in this manner is called fund accounting. Fund accounting allows a government to budget and account for revenues and expenditures restricted by law or policy. Governments may use any number of individual funds in their financial reporting; however, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) require all these individual funds to be aggregated into specified fund types. Any fund constituting 10% or more of the appropriated budget is considered a “major” fund. City of Fort Walton Beach, FL 12 There are basically three groups of funds in governmental accounting:  Governmental Funds – account for activities supported by taxes, grants, and similar resources and include most governmental functions; fund types include general, special revenue, capital projects, debt service, and permanent.  Proprietary Funds – account for activities like those often found in the private sector; fund types include enterprise and internal service funds.  Fiduciary Funds – account for assets not available to support the government’s programs that are held in a trustee or agent capacity; fund types include private-purpose trust, pension and other employee benefit trust, investment trust, and agency funds. General Fund – Accounts for all financial resources not accounted for in other funds (e.g. human resources, finance, police, fire, recreation, code enforcement, streets). Special Revenue Funds – Accounts for the proceeds of specific revenue sources that are legally restricted to expenditures for specific purposes.  Law Enforcement Trust Fund – grants, forfeitures  Law Enforcement Training Fund – traffic fines  Florida Building Code Fund – building permit & inspection fees  Community Development Block Grant – entitlement grant  Community Redevelopment Agency – tax increment financing (i.e. ad valorem taxes)  Beal Memorial Cemetery Perpetual Fund – lot, crypt, and niche sales Debt Service Fund – Accounts for the accumulation of resources for, and the payment of, general long-term debt principal and interest. Capital Projects Fund – Accounts for financial resources to be used for the acquisition or construction of major capital facilities, thereby more accurately accounting for a variety of one- time facility improvements and construction projects. Enterprise Funds – Account for operations that are financed and operated in a manner similar to a private business – where the intent of the governing body is that the cost (expenses, including depreciation) of providing the services to the public on a continuing basis be financed and recovered primarily through user charges. Related capital projects are accounted for in the individual enterprise funds.  Utilities Fund – water, sewer, reclaimed water  Sanitation Fund – solid waste, recycling, yard waste  Stormwater – stormwater A department may have multiple divisions or be financed by multiple funds. The chart below illustrates the relationship between the City’s fund financial structure (e.g. accounting) and the City’s departments (e.g. operations). City of Fort Walton Beach, FL 13  Accounting Law Law Department/ General Enf. Enf. FBC CDBG CRA Utilities Sanitation Stormwater Division Trust Train City Council √ City Manager √ Information Tech √ General Human Resources √ Gov’t Risk Management √ City Clerk √ $7.2M Finance √ Purchasing √ Fleet √ Facilities √ Public Safety Police √ √ √ √ $13.4M Fire √ Recreation √ Recreation Parks/ROW √ Services Golf Club √ Operations $7M Library √ Museum √ Cemetery √ Growth Growth Mgmt √ √ √ Management Planning/Zoning √ Bldg Insp/Permits √ $3.8M Code Enforcement √ Fleet √ Facilities √ Streets √ Public Customer Services √ Works & Utility Services √ Utility Services Water Operations √ Water Distribution √ $19.8M Sewer Operations √ Sewer Collection √ Sanitation √ Stormwater √ DEPARTMENT & DIVISION INFORMATION A Department is a major administrative segment of the City that indicates overall management responsibility for an operation or a group of related operations within a functional area (e.g. Police Department, Recreation & Cultural Services Department). The smallest organizational unit budgeted is a Division. Each division indicates responsibility for one functional area (e.g. Library Division within Recreation & Cultural Services Department). When divisions are combined, a department is formed. In order to provide City Council and citizens with a well-rounded presentation of each department, the following elements are presented in the annual budget: organizational chart, revenues & expenditures, mission, description, goals & objectives, and accomplishments. The performance metrics reflect an operational plan and demonstrate how dollars and cents are translated into tangible returns for the citizens. BUDGET BASIS Annual appropriated budgets are adopted by resolution for all governmental and proprietary funds. The City is not legally required to budget for proprietary or fiduciary funds and those budgets are not included in the City’s audited financial statements. The basis of accounting used for purposes of financial reporting in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) is not City of Fort Walton Beach, FL 14 the same basis used in preparing the budget document. All funds are budgeted on a cash basis. In GAAP financial statements, however, governmental funds use the modified accrual basis of accounting and proprietary funds use the accrual basis of accounting. During the year, the City’s accounting system is maintained on the same basis as the adopted budget, which enables department budgets to be easily monitored through the accounting system. The major difference between the budget and GAAP for governmental funds is that certain expenditures (e.g. compensated absences and depreciation) are not recognized for budgetary purposes but are recorded in the accounting system at year-end. For enterprise funds, the difference between this budget and GAAP is that debt principal payments and capital outlay (i.e. fixed assets) are budgeted as expenditures for budgetary purposes, but depreciation and compensated absences are shown on the financial statements. Staff believes this provides a better day-to-day financial plan. However, all activity is recorded in the accounting system at year-end in accordance with GAAP. BUDGET PROCESS This budget continues the City’s commitment of using planning processes and citizen