| Accounting Basis | The City operates on a modified accrual basis where most revenue is recognized when it is earned or billed and expenditures are recognized when the liability is incurred. |
| ADA | Americans with Disabilities Act. |
| ADC | Adult Drug Court. |
| Adult Drug Court (ADC) | City of Richmond Agency. The Richmond Adult Drug Treatment Court is designed to reduce recidivism and drug-related crime by providing a comprehensive program of treatment and monitoring for non-violent, addicted defendants. |
| Advance Life Support (ALS) | Immediate intervention for critical care during a life or death circumstance. |
| Agency | A major administrative division of the City that has overall management responsibility for an operation or a group of related operations within a functional area. |
| ALS | Advance Life Support. |
| Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) | Federal legislation requiring all public buildings to be handicap accessible. |
| Appropriation | An authorization made by City Council to expend funds for certain purposes within a specific time frame. |
| Appropriation Units | Grouping of expenditures within department budgets. For example, the appropriation unit for personal services includes full-time, part-time, and temporary staff wages and fringe benefits. |
| Approved Budget | The budget, formally adopted by City Council, for the upcoming fiscal year. |
| Assessed Value | The fair market value set on real and other property as a basis for levying taxes. |
| Basic Life Support (BLS) | Care that is provided to anyone who is sick or injured. |
| BLS | Basic Life Support. |
| BRASS | Budget Reporting and Analysis Support System. |
| Budget | A financial plan showing estimated costs, revenues and service levels over a certain time period (fiscal year). The proposed budget is the plan submitted by the Mayor to City Council. After Council review and amendments, the budget is approved and becomes the adopted budget. |
| Budget Amendment | Any change to the revenue and/or expenditure of a previously adopted budget. Amendments may be recommended by the Mayor or City Council. The director of finance must certify that the city has the required funds for each amendment. Amendments are considered by City Council and approved (adopted) or rejected by a minimum of six affirmative votes. |
| Budget Reporting and Analysis Support System (BRASS) | A budgeting system designed for budget formulation, budget monitoring, and budget reporting activities. |
| Bureau | A major operating unit within a Department consisting of one or more organizations. |
| CAFR | Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. |
| CAO | Chief Administrative Officer. |
| Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) | A five year financial plan or budget that outlines spending for Capital projects such as buildings, parks, streets, etc., and their financing sources. |
| Capital Outlay | Expenditures which result in the acquisition of, or addition to, fixed assets. Fixed assets generally are purchased from the 5000-account group to facilitate the maintenance of the fixed assets inventory. |
| Capital Projects | Projects for the purchase or construction of capital assets. Typically, a Capital project encompasses a purchase of land and/or the construction of a building or facility. |
| CAPS | Community Assisted Public Safety |
| CARE | Commercial Area Revitalization Effort |
| CDBG | Community Development Block Grant. |
| Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) | The Chief Administrative Officer, who reports to the Mayor, is directly responsible for the city’s day-to-day municipal operations. The CAO is appointed with the approval of City Council. |
| CIP | Capital Improvement Plan. |
| Commercial Area Revitalization Effort (CARE) | Programs which are designed to revitalize and return economic viability to older neighborhood commercial districts, primarily in the city’s low and moderate-income communities. |
| Community Assisted Public Safety (CAPS) | A program which aide the neighborhoods and communities in aggressively prosecuting nuisance crimes that plague citizens the quality of life. |
| Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) | A fund, which accounts for federal entitlement funds received under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. These funds support public improvements and redevelopment and conservation activities within targeted neighborhoods. |
| Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) | An audited and printed copy of the City’s financial statement at the end of a fiscal year, which is fairly presented in all material in accordance with the GAAP. |
| Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) | Funding sources such as state, trust grants Medicaid Family Preservation Act Funding, which proved services to at-risk youths. |
| CSA | and redevelopment and conservation activities within targeted neighborhoods. |
| Current Modified Budget | The approved budget plus City Council’s adopted budget amendments, the budget at any given time during the fiscal year. |
| DCJS | Department of Criminal Justice Services. |
| Debt Service | The amount necessary to pay principal and interest on outstanding bonds and notes for a year. |
| Deficit | (1) The excess of an entity’s or fund’s liabilities over its assets (See Fund Balance). (2) The excess of expenditures or expenses over revenues. |
| Delinquent Taxes | Taxes remaining unpaid on or after the date on which a penalty for nonpayment is incurred. |
| Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) | State agency that provides grant funding to local municipalities for criminal justice related programs. |
| Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) | The DHCD is committed to creating safe, affordable, and prosperous communities to live, work and do business in Virginia. |
| Depreciation | (1) Expiration in the service life of capital assets attributable to wear and tear, deterioration, action of the physical elements, inadequacy or obsolescence. (2) That portion of the cost of a capital asset that is charged as an expense during a particular period. |
| DHCD | Department of Housing and Community Development. |
| Direct Costs | Includes the salaries, wages, and benefits of employees who exclusively work on the delivery of service, as well as the materials and supplies and other associated operating costs such as utilities and rent, training and travel. |
| EEO | Equal Employment Opportunity. |
| Effectiveness Measure | Effectiveness measures address service quality and/or timeliness. |
| Efficiency Measure | Efficiency measures express the ratio of inputs to outputs, or how well the program converts inputs to outputs. They are often expressed as unit costs. |
| Electric Utility Fund | The enterprise fund that accounts for the operations of the City-owned electric system. The cost of providing services is financed or recovered through user fees. |
| Emergency Management Services (EMS) | The Office of Emergency Management provides resources and knowledge in four major areas: Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation. |
| EMS | Emergency Management Services. |
| Encumbrance | Obligations against budgeted funds in the form of a purchase order, contract, or other reservation supported by a purchase order. |
| Enterprise Fund | A separate fund used to account for operations that are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises and where it is the intent that costs (expenses, including depreciation) of providing goods or services to the general public on a continuing basis be financed or recovered primarily through user charges. |
| Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) | Human Resource and Finance System. |
| Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) | Federal law that mandates an employer from practicing discrimination based on race, religion, origin, creed or sex. |
| ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning. |
| Expendable Trust Funds | To account for fund agreements where the principle and earnings on principle may be spent for the fund’s intended purpose. Expendable Trust Funds must be established to account for state unemployment compensation benefit plans and resources to cover administrative costs are accounted for in the general fund. |
| Expenditure | Where accounts are kept on the accrual or modified accrual basis of accounting, the cost of goods received or services rendered, whether cash payment has been made or not. Where accounts are kept on a cash basis, expenditures are recognized only when the cash payment is made. |
| FDTC | Family Drug Treatment Court. Innovative program that focuses on healthy and sober parenting by addressing the causes and issues with the intent of family reunification. |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) | Independent Agency with a mission to reduce the loss of life and property and to protect infrastructure from hazards through a risk-based emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness response and recovery. |
| Federal Labor Standards Administration (FLSA) | A Federal agency responsible for regulating labor laws. |
| FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
| Fiduciary Fund | Resources that are held for the benefit of parties outside the government. These funds are not reflected in the government wide financial statements because the resources of those funds are not available to support the city’s own programs. |
| Fiscal Year | The twelve-month period of the budgetary year. The fiscal year for the City’s operating budget begins on July 1st and ends the following June 30th. |
| FLSA | Federal Labor Standards Administration. |
| FOIA | Freedom of Information Act. |
| Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | (1) A federal law enacted in 1966 requiring that government records except those relating to national security, confidential financial data, and law enforcement are made available to the public on request. (2) A Virginia law enacted in 1968 requiring that most government records and meetings must be available and open to the public. |
| Fringe Benefits | Job-related benefits provided for employees as a part of their total compensation, such as employer’s portion of FICA taxes, retirement and insurance. |
| FTE | Full-Time Equivalents. |
| Full-time Equivalent (FTE) | An employment indicator that translates the total number of hours worked in a year by all employees to an equivalent number of work years, based upon a work year of 2,080 hours equaling one Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) on hand. |
| Fund | An independent fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts recording its assets, liabilities, fund balances, retained earnings, revenues and expenditures. |
| Fund Balance | The accumulated revenues and other financing sources in excess of expenditures and other uses. The City has adopted a Fund Balance Policy requiring an annual appropriation to the fund balance of .5 percent of expenditures until the balance equals five percent of expenditures and prohibiting appropriations from the fund balance if it is less than three percent of expenditures. |
| FY | Fiscal Year. |
| GAAP | Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. |
| Gang Reduction and Intervention Program (GRIP) | In partnership with the Attorney General’ Office and other law enforcement agencies established guidelines which identify, prosecute and seek penalties for members of violent street gangs. |
| Gas Utility Fund | The enterprise fund that accounts for the operations |
| GASB | Governmental Accounting Standards |
| General Fund | The primary operating fund, which accounts for all revenues and expenditures that are not accounted for in specific purpose funds. It finances the regular day-to-day operations of the City. |
| General Obligation Bonds | Bonds sold by the City to private investors to provide long-term financing for Capital Project needs. The City pledges its full faith and credit to the repayment of these bonds. |
| Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) | Standard framework of guidelines for rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions, and the preparation of financial statements. |
| Geographic Information Systems (GIS) | Tools which are used to transform, analyze, gather, manipulate and produce information related to the surface of the Earth. Data may exist as lists, tables, maps, or 3D virtual models. |
| GIS | Geographic Information Systems. |
| Governmental Accounting Standards (GASB) | Currently the source of generally accepted Board accounting principles used by State and Local governments in the United States. |
| Grant | An amount provided by a governmental unit or other type of organization in aid or support of a particular governmental function or program. |
| GRCCA | Greater Richmond Convention Center. |
| Greater Richmond Convention Center (GRCCA) | A regional cooperation between the City of Richmond and the surrounding counties of Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover. |
| Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) | A non-profit local government-owned public service company which operates an urban-suburban fixed bus service and specialized services such a CARE, C-VAN and RideFinders. |
| GRIP | Gang Reduction and Intervention Program. |
| GRTC | Greater Richmond Transit Company. |
| IBR | Incident Based Reporting. |
| Incident Based Reporting (IBR) | Crimes which are reported through data collected on each single incident and arrest within 22 offense categories made up of 46 specific crimes. |
| Indirect Costs | Include shared administrative expenses within the work unit and in one or more support functions outside the work unit. Some examples are: legal, financial, maintenance and technology services. These shared costs may be apportioned by some systematic and rational allocation methodology. |
| Input Measure | A performance measure that typically identifies the resources used to provide the service or activity. |
| Internal Service Fund (ISF) | A proprietary fund type used to account for the financing of goods or services provided by one department or agency to other departments or agencies of the City on a cost reimbursement basis |
| LAN | Local Area Network. |
| LATA | Licenses Assessments, & Tax Audits. |
| Licenses Assessments, & Tax Audits (LATA) | A program that provides City tax assessment and tax compliance services to citizens and businesses so that revenue is billed in accordance with the City tax code. |
| Local Area Network (LAN) | A technological term for a specific type of computer network connectivity configuration. |
| Mayor’s Participation Action (MPACT) | An initiative designed to promote and solicit Communication Team public input and quickly address citizen concerns regarding conditions that detract from the quality of life in our City. |
| MPACT | Mayor’s Participation Action. |
| Municipal Information Systems | Financial software product of Tyler Technologies of Falmouth, Maine. |
| MUNIS | Municipal Information Systems |
| Non-expendable Trust Funds | To account for trusts that stipulate that only earnings, and not principal, may be spent. |
| Object | A budgetary account representing a specific object of expenditure. Objects are commonly referred to as the “budget detail”. |
| Operating Budget | The City’s annual financial plan of the operating expenditures of the General Fund, enterprise funds and internal service funds and the proposed means of financing them. This document is the primary tool by which most of the financing, acquisition, spending and service delivery activities of a government are planned and controlled. |
| Ordinance | A formal legislative enactment by the City Council that has the full force and effect of law within the boundaries of the City. |
| Organization | A major operational unit within a Bureau. |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety & Health. A federal agency that regulates work related safety Administration issues. |
| Output Measure | A performance measure that typically accounts for what was done or accomplished by the service or activity. |
| Performance Based Budgeting | A budget formulated by activities and presented by programs (as opposed to organizational units) that integrates results oriented strategic business planning with measurable outcomes for customers that allows for budget decisions informed by program performance and cost information. |
| Performance Measures | Specific quantitative or qualitative measures of the work performed within an activity or program. An example of a quantitative measure would be the number of miles of streets cleaned. An example of a qualitative measure would be 75% of customers are satisfied with street cleanliness. |
| Personnel Services | Compensation for direct labor of persons in the employment of the City; salaries and wages paid to employees for full-time, part-time, and temporary work, including overtime, shift differential, and similar compensation. This account group also includes the portion of employee fringe benefits paid by the City. |
| PIO | A City division responsible for providing the public information about services and programs and other information. |
| Program | A program is a set of activities undertaken in accordance with a plan of action organized to realize one common purpose with an identifiable end result or outcome. |
| Program Outcome Measure | Program Outcome Measures are used to capture the performance of programs. They describe the impact of a program, benefits or changes for participants resulting from program activities or the ultimate benefit provided to customers by a program. They address the issue of why funding and staff has been provided to the program. |
| Proposed Budget | The budget formally submitted by the Mayor to the City Council for its consideration. Recommended budget documents are also available to the public. |
| Proprietary Funds | To account for a government’s ongoing organization and activities that are similar to those found in the private sector. There are two types of proprietary funds: enterprise funds and internal service funds. |
| RAPIDs | Richmond Advancing Proven Innovative. |
| RBHA | Richmond Behavioral Health Authority. |
| Reserve for Contingencies | A budgetary account set aside for use by the City Council in dealing with emergencies or unforeseen expenditures. |
| Revenue | The yield from various sources of income, such as taxes, that the City collects and receives into the treasury for public use. RichmondWorks – The City’s performance management program |
| Richmond Advancing Proven Innovative (RAPIDs) | The new Enterprise Resource Planning system for Direction Human Resource and Finance. |
| Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) | An established public entity that provides mental health, mental retardation, substance abuse and prevention services to the citizens. |
| Richmond Redevelopment and Housing (RRHA) | A committed ethically and financially agency that Authority provides the citizens with quality affordable housing and effective community redevelopment services. |
| RRHA | Richmond Redevelopment and Housing |
| Salary and Benefit Forecasting System (SBFS) | A part of the BRASS budgeting system designed for salary and benefits calculations, forecasting, – and reporting activities. |
| SEC | Securities and Exchange Commission. |
| Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) | Government commissions created by Congress to regulate the securities markets and protect investors. In addition to regulation and protection, it also monitors the corporate takeovers in the U.S. |
| Service Quality Measure | A performance measure that typically shows the effectiveness of the service or activity. The results will show the benefit or impact of the activity to the customers or to the general public. |
| Sewer Utility Fund | The enterprise fund that accounts for the operations of the City-owned sewer system. The cost of providing services is financed or recovered through user fees. |
| SOL | Standards of Learning. |
| Special Revenue Fund | Fund(s) used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources that are legally restricted to expenditures for specified purposes. |
| Standards of Learning (SOL) | Measurement which the State of Virginia uses for students’ achievement in school at different points of their education. |
| TANF | Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. |
| Team Members | Team members are selected individuals from each of the departments who are involved in each focus area. They are responsible for the day-to-day tasks that enable the City to achieve its goals for each focus area. |
| Technical Support Team | The technical support team includes core agencies which provide financial and administrative services for each of the focus areas. This team will assist the cabinet with cost estimates, personnel requirements, and other central functions. |
| Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) | Federal assistance and work opportunities to needy families by granting states the federal funds and wide flexibility to develop and implement their own welfare programs. |
| UCR | Uniform Crime Report. Standard way of reporting certain crimes which are labeled Part I Crimes. |
| Undesignated Fund Balance | The portion of unreserved fund balance representing financial resources available to finance expenditures other than those tentatively planned (designated). |
| VDOT | Virginia Department of Transportation. |
| Veto | The Mayor may veto any amendment(s) made by City Council to the Mayor’s budget as originally submitted to City Council. The Mayor must indicate his or her intention to veto the amendment(s) within 14 days of the date that City Council takes action on the amendment(s). |
| Veto Over-ride | City Council may over-ride the Mayor’s veto of budget amendments by means of a vote to do so with a two-thirds majority. Over-rides must be done within 14 days of receipt of the Mayor’s vetoes. |
| VIEW | Virginia Initiative for Employment not. A state reform program that places work Welfare requirements and time restrictions on receiving welfare aid. |
| Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) | State agency that maintains state roads and interstate. |
| Virginia Retirement System (VRS) | A state system for public employees that provides its members with benefits at retirement or upon disability or death. |
| VRS | Virginia Retirement System. |
| Water Utility Fund | The enterprise fund that accounts for the operations of the City-owned water system. The cost of providing service is financed or recovered through user fees. |
| Web Time Sheet (WTS) | An application to track the hours spent by each employee on the Enterprise Resource Planning system project. |
| WTS | Web Time Sheet. |