budget-speak
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Administrative Budget Component: One of three
categories that must be reported by school districts. These
expenditures include: office and administrative costs;
salaries and benefits for certified school administrators
who spend 50 percent or more of their time performing
supervisory duties; data processing; supplies; legal fees;
property insurance; and school board expenses.
Appropriated Fund Balance: Any portion of a
district's fund balance from the previous fiscal year that
is applied as revenue to the district's following year's
budget. This reduces the amount of money that must be
generated by taxes.
Board Budget: Spending plan adopted by the Board of
Education.
Bond: A written promise to pay a specified sum of
money, called the face value or principal amount, at a
specified date in the future (the maturity date), together
with periodic interest at a specified rate.
Budget: A plan of financial operation outlining the
estimates of proposed expenditures for a fiscal year and the
proposed means of financing them.
Budget Calendar: The schedule of key dates that the
school district, Board of Education, and administrators
follow in preparation, adoption, and administration of the
budget.
Budget Cap: State law prohibits school districts from
increasing spending annually by more than four percent. Some
areas, such as paying for debt, are excluded from that cap.
Budget Year: The fiscal year immediately following
the current year.
Capital Budget Component: One of three categories
that school districts must show in their proposed budgets,
this covers: all transportation capital, debt service, and
lease expenditures; legal judgments and settled claims;
custodial costs and all facility costs, including service
contracts, supplies, utilities, maintenance, repairs,
construction, renovation, debt and leasing costs.
Capital Outlay: An expenditure that is generally more
than $20,000 and results in the ownership, control or
possession of assets intended for continued use over long
periods of time. Examples: the construction or acquisition
of buildings and equipment, initial equipment of buildings
or additions or the initial acquisition of library books and
research periodicals for a new school building.
Consumer Price Index (CPI): An index of prices used
to measure the change in the cost of basic goods and
services in comparison with a fixed base period. Also called
"cost-of-living" index.
Contingent Budget: Under state law, school boards can
submit a budget to voters a maximum of two times. If the
proposed budget is defeated twice, the board must adopt a
contingency budget, which would put a cap on new spending.
Under a contingent budget, the district may not increase
spending by more than 120 percent of the Consumer Price
Index or four percent, whichever is lower. The items exempt
from this cap are tax certiorari settlements, debt service
(mortgage payments) and costs associated with enrollment
growth.
Employee Benefits: Amounts paid by the district on
behalf of employees. These amounts are not included in the
gross salary. They are fringe benefits, and while not paid
directly to employees, are part of the cost of employees.
Employee benefits include the district cost for health
insurance premiums, dental insurance, life and disability
insurance, Medicare, retirement, social security and tuition
reimbursement.
Expenditure: Payment of cash or transfer of property
or services for the purpose of acquiring an asset or
service.
Fiscal Year: A fiscal year is the accounting period
on which a budget is based. The New York State fiscal year
runs from April 1 to March 31. The fiscal year for all New
York counties and towns and for most cities is the calendar
year. School districts in the State operate on July 1
through June 30 fiscal years.
Fund Balance: A fund balance is created when the
school district has money left over at the end of its fiscal
year from either under spending the budget or taking in
additional revenue. Part of the fund balance (appropriated
fund balance) may be applied as revenues to the district's
following year budget. A portion may also be set aside (unappropriated
fund balance) to pay for emergencies or other unforeseen
occurrences.
Program Budget Component: One of the categories that
must be presented in the district's proposed budget, this
portion includes: salaries and benefits of teachers and
supervisors who spend the majority of their time teaching;
instructional costs such as supplies, equipment, and
textbooks; and transportation operating costs.
Proposed Budget: Also called Administrative Proposal.
Spending plan developed by school administrators prior to
Board adoption. School districts are required by New York
State to show their proposed budgets in three categories:
administrative, program, and capital.
Reassessment: A reassessment is a systematic analysis
of all locally assessed properties (both commercial and
residential) to achieve a stated uniform percentage of
value. The goal of a reassessment is to assure that each
assessment reflects current market prices and that each
property owner pays only their fair share of the tax burden.
With a reassessment comes a shift in the tax burden to those
whose property values have risen faster than average. This
process does not result in a windfall of new revenue for the
town, county, or school district nor does the reassessment
change the total amount of taxes that the school district
must collect; it merely redistributes who pays them. In
theory, rising assessments will result in a decrease in the
tax rate (everything else being equal), as there is now a
larger tax base from which the school may generate the same
amount of tax dollars. If a property owner's assessment
doubles, their tax bill will not double - in fact, it may
remain about the same, increase slightly, or even decrease
depending on the final tax rate.
Revenue: Sources of income financing the operation of
the school district.
Salaries: The total amount paid to an individual,
before deductions, for services rendered while on the
payroll of the district.
STAR: The New York State School Tax Relief (STAR)
Program provides exemption for school taxes for all
owner-occupied, primary residents, regardless of income.
Senior citizens with combined 2005 incomes that do not
exceed $66,050 may qualify for an enhanced exemption.
State Department of Education: The New York
administration department that oversees public elementary
and secondary education.
Supplies: Consumable materials used in the operation
of the school district including food, textbooks, paper,
pencils, office supplies, custodial supplies, material used
in maintenance activities and computer software.
Support Services: The personnel, activities, and
programs that enhance instruction and provide for the
general operation of the school district. This includes
attendance, guidance, and health programs; library personnel
and services; special education services provided by speech
and language pathologists, physical therapists and
occupation therapists; professional development programs,
transportation, administration, buildings and ground
operations, and security.
Tax Base: Assessed value of local real estate that a
school district may tax for yearly operational monies.
Tax Certiorari: The legal process by which a property
owner can challenge the real estate tax assessment on a
given property in attempt to reduce the property's
assessment and real estate taxes.
Tax Levy: The total sum to be raised by a tax, or the
legislative measure by which an annual or general tax is
imposed.
Tax Rate: The amount of tax paid for each increment
(usually $1,000) of assessed value of property.
Unappropriated Fund Balance: A school district is
permitted to keep up to two percent of its fund balance in
an unappropriated fund. This money may be used to pay for
emergency repairs and other unforeseen occurrences.
common
budget terminology