Nonspendable: consists of assets that are inherently nonspendable
in the current period either because of their form or because they
must be maintained intact, including prepaid items, inventories, long-term
portions of loans receivable, financial assets held for resale, and
principal of endowments.
Restricted: consists of amounts that are subject to externally enforceable
legal purpose restrictions imposed by creditors, grantors, contributors,
or laws and regulations of other governments; or through constitutional
provisions or enabling legislation. Because the state regulates the
establishment, funding and use of reserves, generally, reserves will
be classified as restricted fund balance.
Committed: consists of amounts that are subject to a purpose constraint
imposed by a formal action of the government's highest level
of decisionmaking authority before the end of the fiscal year and
that require the same level of formal action to remove the constraint.
Assigned: consists of amounts that are subject to a purpose constraint
that represents an intended use established by the Board or by their
designated official. The purpose of the assignment must be narrower
than the purpose of the general fund, and in funds other than the
general fund, assigned fund balance represents the residual amount
of fund balance. Assigned fund balance generally includes encumbrances
and appropriated fund balance.
Unassigned: represents the residual classification for the government's
general fund and could report a surplus or deficit. In funds other
than the general fund, the unassigned classification should be used
only to report a deficit balance resulting from overspending for specific
purposes for which amounts had been restricted, committed, or assigned.
Fund balance measures the net financial resources available to finance
expenditures within current or future periods. The Village's
unassigned general fund balance will be maintained to provide the
Village with financial stability and a margin of safety to fund unanticipated
contingent expenditures that may occur unexpectedly during the fiscal
year. The unassigned general fund balance used for these purposes
may only be appropriated by resolution of the Board of Trustees unless
voter approval is required.
Any portion of fund balance may be applied or transferred for a specific
purpose either by voter approval, if required by law, or by formal
action of the Board of Trustees if voter approval is not required.
Amendments or modification to the applied or transferred fund balance
must also be approved by formal action of the Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees shall delegate the authority to assign fund
balance, for encumbrance purposes, to the person(s) to whom it has
delegated the authority to sign purchase orders.
In circumstances where an expenditure is incurred for a purpose for
which amounts are available in multiple fund balance classifications
(e.g., expenditures related to reserves), the expenditure is to be
spent first from the restricted fund balance, to the extent that an
approved permissive referendum is in place or has been appropriated
by the Board of Trustees, and then from the unrestricted fund balance.
Expenditures incurred in the unrestricted fund balances shall be applied
first to the assigned fund balance to the extent that there is an
assignment, and then to the unassigned fund balance.