Fiscal policy created for Dunn County
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Dunn County is now operating under a fiscal policy that regulates how the county’s unassigned general fund balance will be maintained and establishes a process for the contingency fund.
Unassigned fund balance is defined as all spendable amounts not contained in other classifications, such restricted fund balance, committed fund balance and assigned fund balance, according to the ordinance adopted on a second reading at the Dunn County Board’s September 20 meeting.
According to the 2021 audit report, Dunn County’s unassigned fund balance was $13.9 million as of December 31, 2021.
The ordinance establishes that the unassigned fund balance can be used for emergency expenditures that had not been previously considered.
The policy also establishes that at the end of each year, Dunn County’s unassigned general fund balance will be maintained to provide no less than 35 percent and no greater than 50 percent — plus or minus three percent — of the general fund operating expenditures.
Government accounting principles recommended by various auditing firms state that the general fund balance should be maintained at 25 to 33 percent of the general fund operating expenditures.
Dunn County’s unassigned general fund balance was 60.6 percent of the general fund operating expenditures at the end of 2021.
According to the ordinance, if the amounts assigned for cash flow fall above or below the desired target, the county manager will report the amount to the county board as soon as practical after the end of the fiscal year.
If the amount assigned for cash flow falls below the desired target, Dunn County will create a plan to restore the general fund balance to the appropriate level.
If the amount assigned for cash flow is significantly above the desired target, excess funds will remain unassigned until the county board makes a final decision concerning transfer of the money to another fund, according to the ordinance.
Surplus in the unassigned general fund that is over 50 percent of the general fund operating expenditures can be used for capital improvements or capital equipment, can be used to prepay debt service for callable bonds or notes or can be used as a beginning cash balance to support the annual budget to pay the costs of one-time expenditures, according to the ordinance.
Contingency fund
The ordinance also establishes a contingency fund policy.
Contingency funds will be used for one-time only unanticipated expenditures for a specific purpose for which there was no appropriation in the annual budget due to a change in federal or state laws, rules or regulations; a court order, judgement or decree; a public emergency; an industry-wide price, rate or premium increase; or another unanticipated need that occurs after the final budget has been adopted and that could not have been anticipated at the time the budget was approved, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance also states that the Dunn County Board will establish a contingency fund every year during the annual budget process.
In addition, the contingency fund will be managed by the Committee on Administration, and requests for the use of contingency funds will originate with a standing committee.
Standing committees for Dunn County include the Committee on Administration, the Executive Committee, the Planning, Resources and Development committee, the Health and Human Services Board, the Judiciary and Law Committee, the Community Resources and Tourism committee, the Facilities committee, the Highway committee, and the Neighbors of Dunn County committee.
The ordinance authorizes the county’s Department of Administration to develop appropriate policy and forms for the processing and approval of contingency fund requests.
