Sarasota County Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2020

Sarasota County, Florida Notes to Financial Statements September 30, 2020 W. FUND BALANCE REPORTING AND GOVERNMENTAL FUND-TYPE DEFINITIONS Fund Balances are reported in the fund statements in the following classifications: Non-Spendable Fund Balance - Amounts that are (a) not in spendable form or (b) legally or contractually required to be maintained intact. Restricted Fund Balance - Amounts that can be spent only for specific purposes stipulated by (a) external resource providers such as creditors (by debt covenants), grantors, contributors, or laws and regulations of other governments; or (b) imposed by law through constitutional provisions or enabling legislation. Committed Fund Balance - Amounts that can be used only for the specific purposes determined by a formal action of the Commissioners, the County’s highest level of decision making authority, with formal action occurring prior to fiscal year-end. Commitments may be changed or lifted only by the Commissioners taking the same formal action (resolution) that imposed the constraint originally. Assigned Fund Balance - Includes spendable fund balance amounts, pursuant to the Financial Reserves Policy Resolution 2019-172, established by the Chief Financial Management Officer or his designee that are intended to be used for specific purposes that are neither considered restricted or committed. Unassigned Fund Balance - This is the residual classification for the general fund that represents fund balance not assigned to other funds, it has not been restricted, committed, or assigned to specific purposes within the General Fund. Unassigned fund balance may also include negative balances for any governmental fund if expenditures exceed amounts non- spendable, restricted, committed, or assigned for those specific purposes. The County spends restricted amounts first, when both restricted and unrestricted fund balances are available, unless prohibited by legal documents, grant agreements or contracts. Additionally, the County uses committed fund balance, followed by assigned fund balance and then unassigned fund balance when expenditures are incurred for purposes for which amounts in any of the unrestricted fund balance classifications could be used. 93