General Fund
The General Fund is the chief operating fund of the City. At the end of the current fiscal year,
unassigned fund balance of the General Fund was $31.7 million compared to $30.7 million last
year, while total general fund balance was $70.2 million compared to $63.1 million last year. The
$7.1 million change in fund balance is a result of utilizing $4.5 million in unassigned fund balance
toward the FY21 budget, favorable auto permits and intergovernmental revenues, and
approximately $6.8 million in unspent appropriations that were approved to carry forward into
fiscal year 2021.
As a measure of the General Fund’s change in financial position, it may be useful to compare both
unassigned fund balance and total fund balance to tota! fund expenditures over time. Unassigned
fund balance, represents 10.9% of total General Fund expenditures and transfers out, compared to
10.6% in the prior year, while total fund balance represents 24.2% of total General Fund
expenditures and transfers, compared to 21.8% in the prior year.
Debt Service Fund
The Debt Service Fund is used to account for resources and debt service payments associated with
the bond issuance for the acquisition of Pennichuck Corporation. The Debt Service Fund has break
even results as expected as contributed revenue is for the scheduled principal and interest
payments.
Nonmajor Governmental Funds
The nonmajor governmental funds changed by $3.8 million primarily from timing differences
between the receipt and disbursement of grants and permanent financing of capital projects.
Proprietary Funds
The City’s proprietary funds provide the same type of information found in the government-wide
financial statements, but in more detail. Unlike governmental funds, proprietary funds utilize the
accrual basis of accounting. Therefore, no reconciliation is needed between the government-wide
financial statements and the proprietary fund financial statements.
Factors concerning the finances of these two funds have already been addressed in the discussion of
the City’s business-type activities.
General Fund Budgetary Highlights
The following reconciles the City’s adopted budget with the “original budget” columns of the
Budget and Actual Financial Statements on page 39 and the Budget and Actual Detail Schedule on
pages 180 - 181 (in thousands).
Total Adopted Budget $ 282,884,408
Plus: Hillsborough County appropriation 11,993,150
Plus: Appropriation to Solid Waste Fund 5,748,376
Plus: Supplemental appropriations 401,088
Total Original Budget, per Financial Statements/Schedules $ 301,027,022
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