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Financial Management for Elected Officials January 2013 <br /> <br />Institute for Local Government www.ca-ilg.org 23 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Expenditure An amount paid for goods and services associated with the <br />provision of public services, including payments for debt <br />retirement and capital outlays. <br />Fee A charge for the cost of providing a particular service. <br />Public agency fees may not exceed the estimated <br />reasonable cost of providing the particular service or <br />facility for which the fee is charged, plus overhead. <br />Fines, Forfeitures and Penalties Revenues received and/or bail monies forfeited upon <br />when an individual is convicted of a misdemeanor or <br />municipal infraction. <br /> <br />Full Faith and Credit When a local agency uses debt financing, more <br />specifically general obligation bonds, it makes a pledge to <br />bondholders the agency will use all available funds to <br />meet the agency’s obligation to repay bondholders. <br /> <br />Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)/Staff Year The number of hours per year that a full-time employee is <br />expected to work. If there are two workers, each of whom <br />works half that number of hours per year, the two workers <br />together equal one full-time equivalent or one staff year. <br />Fund A self-balancing set of accounts. For agencies with more <br />complex budgets, accounting information is organized <br />into funds, each with separate revenues, expenditures, and <br />fund balances. <br /> <br />Fund Balance Difference between the assets (revenues and other <br />resources) and liabilities (amounts spent or committed to) <br />of a particular fund. <br />General Fund Fund used to account for all financial resources except <br />those accounted for in another fund (for example, <br />enterprise or grant funds). Usually, the general fund is the <br />largest fund in a local agency. <br /> <br />General Obligation (G.O.) Bonds A form of debt in which the agency pledges its “full faith <br />and credit” to collect enough money each year to repay the <br />amount borrowed plus interest. <br />General Tax A tax imposed for general governmental purposes, the <br />proceeds of which are deposited into the general fund. An <br />agency must comply with certain procedural requirements <br />to impose, increase or extend a general tax, including <br />securing approval of the tax by majority vote of the <br />electorate. See also “special tax.” <br /> <br />Page 45 of 109