1999 Florida Code
TITLE XI COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
Chapter 129 County Annual Budget  
129.01   Budget system established.

129.01  Budget system established.--There is hereby established a budget system for the control of the finances of the boards of county commissioners of the several counties of the state, as follows:

(1)  There shall be prepared, approved, adopted, and executed, as prescribed in this chapter, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1952, and for each fiscal year thereafter, an annual budget for such funds as may be required by law or by sound financial practices and generally accepted accounting principles. The budget shall control the levy of taxes and the expenditure of money for all county purposes during the ensuing fiscal year.

(2)  Each budget shall conform to the following general directions and requirements:

(a)  The budget shall be prepared, summarized, and approved by the board of county commissioners of each county.

(b)  The budget shall be balanced; that is, the total of the estimated receipts, including balances brought forward, shall equal the total of the appropriations and reserves. It shall conform to the uniform classification of accounts prescribed by the appropriate state agency. The receipts division of the budget shall include 95 percent of all receipts reasonably to be anticipated from all sources, including taxes to be levied, provided the percent anticipated from ad valorem levies shall be as specified in s. 200.065(2)(a), and 100 percent of the amount of the balances of both cash and liquid securities estimated to be brought forward at the beginning of the fiscal year. The appropriation division of the budget shall include itemized appropriations for all expenditures authorized by law, contemplated to be made, or incurred for the benefit of the county during the said year and the provision for the reserves authorized by this chapter. Both the receipts and appropriation divisions shall reflect the approximate division of expenditures between countywide expenditures and noncountywide expenditures and the division of county revenues derived from or on behalf of the county as a whole and county revenues derived from or on behalf of a municipal service taxing unit, special district included within the county budget, unincorporated area, service area, or program area, or otherwise not received for or on behalf of the county as a whole.

(c)  Provision may be made for the following reserves:

1.  A reserve for contingencies may be provided in a sum not to exceed 10 percent of the total of the budget.

2.  A reserve for cash balance to be carried over may be provided for the purpose of paying expenses from October 1 of the ensuing fiscal year until the time when the revenues for that year are expected to be available. This reserve may be not more than 20 percent of the total receipts and balances of the budget; provided that for the bond interest and sinking fund budget, this reserve may be not more than the total maturities of debt (both principal and interest) that will occur during the ensuing fiscal year, plus the sinking fund requirements, computed on a straight-line basis, for any outstanding obligations to be paid from the fund.

(d)  An appropriation for "outstanding indebtedness" shall be made to provide for the payment of vouchers which have been incurred in and charged against the budget for the current year or a prior year, but which are expected to be unpaid at the beginning of the ensuing year for which the budget is being prepared. The appropriation for the payment of such vouchers shall be made in the same fund for which the expenses were originally incurred.

(e)  Any surplus arising from an excess of the estimated cash balance over the estimated amount of unpaid obligations to be carried over in a fund at the end of the current fiscal year may be transferred to any of the other funds of the county, and the amount so transferred shall be budgeted as a receipt to such other funds; provided, that no such surplus in a fund raised for debt service shall be transferred to another fund, except to a fund raised for the same purposes in the same territory, unless the debt of such territory has been extinguished, in which case it may be transferred to any other fund raised for that territory; provided, further, that no such surplus in a capital outlay reserve fund may be transferred to another fund until such time as the projects for which such capital outlay reserve fund was raised have been completed and all obligations paid.

History.--s. 1, ch. 6814, 1915; RGS 1524; CGL 2302; s. 1, ch. 26874, 1951; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 5, ch. 73-349; s. 1, ch. 77-165; s. 1, ch. 78-132; s. 1, ch. 78-157; s. 28, ch. 80-274; s. 3, ch. 96-324.