Financial Analysis of the Government’s Funds As noted earlier, Sarasota County uses fund accounting to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance- related legal requirements. Governmental Funds. The focus of Sarasota County’s governmental funds is to provide information on near- term inflows, outflows and balances of spendable resources. Such information is useful in assessing Sarasota County’s financing requirements. In particular, unassigned fund balance may serve as a useful measure of a government’s net resources available for spending at the end of the fiscal year. At the end of the current fiscal year, Sarasota County’s governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $735.7 million, an increase of $87.4 million compared to the prior year. The unassigned fund balance of a negative $1.2 million is mostly attributed to the delay in Federal Emergency Management Agency approving project worksheets related to Hurricane Ian. Further information regarding unassigned fund balance can be found in the governmental funds financial statements starting on page 48. The remainder of fund balance is restricted, committed, assigned or non-spendable. These amounts totaled $737.0 million or 93.2 percent of ending fund balance. Of this amount, $534.9 million is restricted by law or externally imposed requirements, $169.6 million is committed for specific purposes by the Board of County Commissioners and $30.3 million is assigned for various purposes by the County Administrator. The General Fund is the chief operating fund of Sarasota County. The General Fund represents 46.4 percent of the total governmental revenues. At the end of the current fiscal year, unassigned fund balance of the General Fund was $49.9 million, while the total fund balance was $144.9 million. As a measure of the General Fund’s liquidity, it may be useful to compare both unassigned fund balance and total fund balance to total fund expenditures. Unassigned fund balance represents 15.7 percent of the total annual General Fund expenditures, and total fund balance represents 45.5 percent. The fund balance of Sarasota County’s General Fund increased by $27.1 million during the current fiscal year. Key factors in the change in fund balance are as follows: Taxes collected exceeded the budget by $5.3 million as a result in increases of assessed property values from the prior fiscal year. Intergovernmental revenues exceeded the budget by $14.2 million due to increased economic activity. Investment earnings revenue increased by $10.1 million due to market changes in the current year compared to the prior year. Additional information regarding the General Fund budget to actual variances can be found on pages 56-57. The Emergency Services Special Revenue Fund has a total fund balance of $18.4 million, a decrease of $2.2 million over the prior fiscal year. This fund balance must be used for fire and ambulance emergency services. The County utilizes a non-ad valorem Fire Assessment for the purposes of funding fire services. The special assessment service charge collected increased by 4.4 percent which is reflective of the County’s growth and development and includes an average 3.3 percent rate increase in Fire-Rescue Assessments for fiscal year 2023. Expenditures includes $7.3 million over the prior fiscal year primarily due to an increase in personnel services. The Capital Revenue Programs Special Revenue Fund has a total fund balance of $103.7 million, an increase of $11.9 million over the prior fiscal year. The fund received $61.3 million in local infrastructure one-cent sales tax and $41.3 million for impact and mobility fees to fund the County’s infrastructure needs. The fund transferred $64.8 million to various capital projects to include road way resurfacing, park improvements and infrastructure updates including traffic circles and adding lanes to existing roads. It also transferred $30.9 million to infrastructure projects such as building updates and jail renovations. The Federal, State and Local Grant Funds and has a total fund balance of negative $42.7 million, a decrease of $43.71 million over the prior fiscal year mainly due to expenses incurred for Hurricane Ian recovery that haven’t been approved by Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement yet. During the fiscal year, $93.8 million has been spent on grant eligible expenditures. 37
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