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Created November 2017 <br /> <br />KITTITAS COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT POLICY & PROCEDURES <br />Fund Balance Policy <br /> <br />I. Purpose <br /> <br />It is the purpose of this policy to establish guidelines and a process for maintaining the four main <br />pieces of the department’s fund balance: Operating Expenses (OPEX) Reserve, Tuberculosis, <br />Capital Assets, and Unassigned, which ensures accountability and the ability to cover current and <br />future department needs. <br /> <br />II. Policy <br /> <br />A. OPEX Reserve <br />1. The department will make every effort to keep the value, at a minimum, of two <br />month’s operating costs to cover the department’s delayed payable expenses. This <br />reserve also meets the county’s requirement in the fund balance policy and is <br />considered to be a best practice. <br />B. Tuberculosis <br />1. The health department is required by law to assure proper care of people infected with <br />tuberculosis. The county is required to make a contribution to the tuberculosis <br />program every year, which can be used for current and/or future expenses. This <br />restricted money can only be used for related tuberculosis expenditures, and cannot <br />be used to cover general department costs. The maximum amount to be accrued in <br />this fund is $80,000.00. <br />C. Capital Assets <br />1. The department is required to have a restricted Equipment Replacement Revolving <br />(ERR) portion of the fund balance. This money is restricted for the use of replacing <br />any capital equipment the department has such as vehicles, vaccine refrigerator, GPS <br />units, etc. This restricted money can only be used for capital asset replacement, and <br />cannot be used to cover general department costs. The vaccine refrigerator has a ten <br />year expected life. Seven years or 100,000 miles will be used as a replacement factor <br />for all vehicles, in determining the amount needed in the fund. <br />D. Unassigned <br />1. The value of the department’s unassigned fund balance is the total fund balance less <br />OPEX reserve, tuberculosis, and capital asset balances. This unassigned fund balance <br />can be used to cover general department costs such as unanticipated costs or to reduce <br />the dependency on the county general fund contribution during budget preparation. <br /> <br />III. Procedures <br /> <br />A. The procedures for the fund balance policy are as follows: <br />1. OPEX Reserve <br />a. The Fiscal Analyst will calculate the amount of two month’s operating <br />expenses needed to be held in reserve. This is done by using 1/6 of the