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Budget 101 Welcome

WELCOME TO BUDGET 101

Thank you for taking the time to read and explore Budget 101. This is one of many projects the county is undertaking to receive input from Pasco County citizens and businesses to determine what they believe are the priority services that need to receive funding. With the articles that appear in the newspapers, and the additional content contained on this website, we hope to educate our taxpayers as to how the County Commission budget is prepared and what restrictions are placed on many of our revenues.

 

The articles and the content on this webpage concern the budget of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. It does not include budget information on the other government units to which you pay property taxes. Specifically our discussions will not include the District School Board of Pasco County, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Mosquito Control District, or any of the six municipalities.

 

Each of the newspapers we submit our articles to reserves the right to edit the articles in accordance with its guidelines. As a result the articles may differ slightly. We have posted on this page each of our articles as originally submitted. The newspapers have also placed a size limit on each article so this webpage gives us the chance to provide you with information we could not fit in the articles. The webpage also provides you with a chance to ask us a question concerning the budget and offer your opinions. We will post some of those questions and our answers to provide the type of additional information you are looking for. We welcome your participation. Please let us know what you are thinking.

 

The webpage also allows us to provide you with links to larger documents you may wish to see. These documents are in a format that requires the Adobe Reader software to open the documents. If you do not already have it you can download a free copy from www.adobe.com. With this software you can look at the current fiscal year's budget document. You can also see the County's audited financial statements and related reports as posted on the website of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller. You can find the most recent published annual audit at www.pascoclerk.com/public-finance-info.asp. Click on CAFR Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2007.  The budget document and the audit document are both large files and, depending on your internet connection may take some time to download.

 

Click on the following link to view two graphics showing a percentage breakdown of our budgeted revenues and budgeted expenditures.

 

The first article talked about the funds that comprise our budget. What we did not provide you with was a definition of what a fund is. A fund is a group of accounts that include revenues, expenditures, assets, liabilities and, in most cases, a fund balance. Most funds are established to insure that the revenue source for each fund is spent for the specific purpose for which it was intended. Pasco County has six different types of funds:

 

The General Fund is our largest fund, as in most governments, and is used to provide the basic governmental services to all citizens of the county. This is where we fund the majority of the costs of general government such as constitutional officers, emergency medical services, parks, and libraries. The General Fund is less than 20% of the total budget and one of only two funds that receive property taxes.

 

Next we have fifty-two Special Revenue Funds that comprise the largest portion (46%) of the total budget. Most special revenue funds are created to track a specific revenue (grants, impact fees, tourist tax) or are established to provide a service in a particular area. The Municipal Fire Fund is a special revenue fund and the only other fund in which we budget property taxes. As was stated in the article the biggest misconception that the public has is that all of these revenues can be spent for any purpose.

 

We have five Debt Service Funds that are used to make payments on long term loan obligations, four Capital Project Funds where we budget construction projects that typically are expended over multiple fiscal years, and two Internal Service Funds that provide insurance coverage, and vehicles and heavy equipment for all of the operating departments. These eleven funds combined are 9.1% of the budget.

 

That leaves our four Enterprise Funds . Two for Water and Sewer and two for Resource Recovery Solid Waste. They comprise the remaining 25.15% of the total budget. 

 

Click here for a color-coded chart of each type of fund. The Special Revenue funds are in yellow, Debt Service in green, Capital Projects in pink, Enterprise funds in blue and Internal Service in purple. 

Budget Article Lists

Pasco County Budget 101 Articles
Budget 101 Article 1

Welcome to the first in a series of articles to educate readers on the basics of the budget adoption process by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners.
Property Taxes

When looking at the budget of a local government citizens focus on property taxes. But property taxes only represent a small portion of the overall picture.
Comments

Click here to ask questions, make suggestions, or offer comments on Budget 101 or any of the information on these pages.
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