Fund Balance Policy
document
3 pages
Meeting: portal event 908 (no meeting page on file)
Agenda item: Adoption of Board Policies
Document, 3 pages. Attached to agenda item: “Adoption of Board Policies”
Retrieved 2026-04-15 from the village's meeting portal.
View the original PDF ↗
Also attached to this agenda item:
Breach Notification Policy
Debt Policy
Investment Policy
Procurement Policy
Resolution 251-2023 Adoption of Board Policies
Sexual Harassment Prevention and Unlawful Harassment Policies
Workplace Violence Prevention Policy
Extracted text
FUND BALANCE POLICY
FOR THE VILLAGE OF CROTON-ON-HUDSON
I.
PURPOSE
The Village of Croton-on-Hudson believes that a fund balance policy for its
General Fund will ensure long-term stability of its financial resources. The goal of the
policy is to ensure that the unassigned fund balance is maintained at a reasonable level,
not too high or too low, in order to protect against reducing service levels, revenue
shortfalls, raising taxes and fees, and unanticipated one-time expenditures, emergencies
or disasters.
II.
RESERVE FUNDS
Reserve funds will be established and used as a component of the Village’s
financial planning for specific expenses, future projects, acquisitions and other lawful
purposes.
III.
BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS
The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement
Number 54, Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions.
Statement 54 abandons the reserved and unreserved classifications of fund balance and
replaces them with five new classifications for Governmental Funds: non-spendable,
restricted, committed, assigned and unassigned. The last three classifications comprise
the unrestricted fund balance. The statement went into effect June 30, 2011.
1. Fund Balance – Consists of the measurement of available resources and
represents the difference between total assets and total liabilities.
2. Non-Spendable – Consists of the amounts that cannot be spent because they
are in a non-spendable form. Examples: prepaid insurance, inventory.
3. Restricted – Consists of amounts that are subject to externally enforceable
legal purpose restrictions imposed by certain creditors, grantors, contributors
or laws and regulations of other governments, or through constitutional
provisions or enabling legislation. Example: reserves.
4. Committed (Unrestricted) – Consists of amounts constrained to specific
purposes by a government itself using its highest-level decision-making
authority.
5. Assigned (Unrestricted) – Consists of amounts that are subject to a purposes
constraint that represents an intended use established by the government’s
highest-level decision-making authority. Example: encumbrances.
6. Unassigned (Unrestricted) – Consists of all balances remaining after
considering the other four categories for the general fund and could results in
a surplus or deficit. Use is least constrained in this category.
IV.
POLICY STATEMENT
The Village Board must consider a number of factors when determining how
much unrestricted fund balance is reasonable. Factors to consider are: timing of receipts
and disbursements, volatility of revenues and expenditures, contingent appropriations,
established revenues, potential for one-time outlays not provided for by reserves,
dependence on resources from other funds as well as the need to provide resources to
other funds, size of the fund and experience in prior fiscal years.
In the past, the Village reviewed its prior year unassigned fund balances and
concluded that the level of unassigned fund balance was higher than necessary, given the
relatively stable cash flow that the Village currently has. Over the past 12 months, the
Village Board has created a new tax stabilization reserve (funded at $100,000) and
assigned fund balance to pay installment debt and capital projects. It is important to note
that the largest of these assignments, for the purchase of the new ladder truck for the fire
department, is not reflected in the table below as it occurred in June 2023.
With the current uncertainty surrounding the Village’s non-tax revenues, this policy will
need to be monitored for any possible changes.
The following table shows the percentage of unassigned fund balance as a
percentage of the subsequent year’s total appropriations:
Fiscal Year End
Unassigned Fund Balance
Total Appropriations
Following Year
Percentage
$5,602,091
$19,427,655
29%
$5,793,691
$19,299,402
30%
$3,807,378
$18,868,054
20%
$5,862,360
$19,222,047
30%
$9,051,312
$20,765,240
44%
By adopting this Fund Balance Policy, the Village shall endeavor to keep the
Unassigned Fund Balance in a range not less than 17% and not more than 25% of the
total adopted budgeted expenditures of the General Fund. In determining compliance, the
following formula will be used: the audited balance available in the unrestricted
unassigned fund balance of the Village’s General Fund for the most recently audited
fiscal year, divided by the adopted expenditure budget for the ensuing fiscal year for the
Village’s General Fund.
V.
SURPLUS
In the event the unrestricted unassigned fund balance of the Village’s General
Fund exceeds the maximum requirements, the excess may be utilized for any lawful
purposes approved by the Village Board of Trustees. The Village Manager and Village
Treasurer will prepare a proposed plan for the future use of these funds. By adopting this
Fund Balance Policy, the Village Board commits to adopting reserve accounts to be used
for future capital expenditures. Two such necessary reserve accounts are for (1) building
purchases and building renovations, and 2) Fire and other apparatus having costs
exceeding $250,000. The Village Board also commits to utilizing surplus unassigned
fund balance for the purchase of vehicles and equipment. Reserve accounts will be
established by resolution as required by law.
VI.
DEFICIT
In the event the unrestricted unassigned fund balance for the Village’s General
Fund falls below the minimum requirement of 17% for any fiscal year, the Village
Manager and Village Treasurer will prepare and submit to the Village Board a plan to
restore the balance to the minimum target level in an appropriate period of time.
VII.
ANNUAL REVIEW
This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis and adopted at the Village’s
Organizational Meeting.
Machine-extracted for search and reference — the original PDF is the authoritative version.