The fund balances reported on the fund statements now consist of the following categories
Nonspendable - This classification includes amounts that cannot be spent because they are either (a) not in spendable form or (b) legally or contractually required to be maintained intact.
Restricted - This classification includes amounts that can be spent only for specific purposes stipulated by constitution, external resource providers or through enabling legislation.
Committed - This classification includes amounts that can be used only for the specific purposes determined by a formal action of the City Council. The City considers the adoption of a resolution to institute a formal action of City Council for the purpose of establishing, modifying or rescinding committed fund balances.
Assigned - This classification includes amounts to be used by the government for specific purposes but do not meet the criteria to be classified as restricted or committed. This includes amounts that are assigned through adoption of a resolution by City Council. The Council may delegate the ability of an employee or committee to assign uses of specific funds, for specific purposes. Such delegation of authority occurred on September 27th, 2018 and will be in effect for future fiscal years.
Unassigned - This classification includes the residual balance for the government's general fund and includes all spendable amounts not contained in other classifications. In other funds, the unassigned classification is used only to report a deficit balance resulting from overspending for specific purposes for which amounts had been restricted, committed or assigned.
When an expenditure is incurred for purposes for which both restricted and unrestricted fund balances are available, the City's policy is to apply restricted fund balance first. When an expenditure is incurred for purposes for which committed, assigned or unassigned fund balances are available, the City's policy is to apply committed fund balance first, then assigned fund balance, and finally unassigned fund balance.
For government-wide reporting as well as in proprietary funds, the difference between assets and deferred outflows of resources less liabilities and deferred inflows of resources is called net position. Net position is comprised of three components: net investment in capital assets, restricted, and unrestricted.
Net investment in capital assets consists of capital assets, net of accumulated depreciation/amortization and reduced by outstanding balances of bonds, notes, and other debt that are attributable to the acquisition, construction, or improvement of those assets. Deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources that are attributable to the acquisition, construction, or improvement of those assets or related debt are included in this component of net position.
Restricted net position consists of restricted assets reduced by liabilities and deferred inflows of resources related to those assets. Assets are reported as restricted when constraints are placed on asset use either by external parties or by law through constitutional provision or enabling legislation.
Unrestricted net position is the net amount of the assets, deferred outflows of resources, liabilities, and deferred inflows of resources that does not meet the definition of the two preceding categories.
Sometimes the City will fund outlays for a particular purpose from both restricted (e.g., restricted bond or grant proceeds) and unrestricted resources. In order to calculate the amounts to report as restricted net position and unrestricted net position in the government-wide and proprietary fund financial statements, a flow assumption must be made about the order in which the resources are considered to be applied. It is the City's policy to consider restricted net position to have been depleted before unrestricted net position is applied.