Budgeting officer, Incident response safety Flashcards
Budgets:
According to the lesson, NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications requires that company officers be able to:
Prepare a budget request to obtain the items needed to operate their stations and companies.
What steps are involved in a budget cycle?
- Fire officers prepare and submit budget request to the fire chief
*The Chief prioritizes these request and compiles a wish list - Revenue projections are determined for the upcoming fiscal year.
*The proposals are reviews by local government officials and made public. - Public comments are received and eventually the amended budget is approved.
The Budget cycle usually begins on ______.
July 1st.
What are the two primary budget types used?
Capital Budget
Operating Budget
what expense are covered in a capital budget?
*facilities
*department furnishings
*vehicles (e.g., fire apparatus)
*equipment (e.g., parts for vehicles, fire hoses for fire attack, etc.)
Bond programs require what?
4
- A voter referendum
*specific accounting controls
*annual reporting, according to specific procedures
*no purchases of items not pre-specified or authorized.
Operating Budgets cover?
*Salaries
* Benefits
*Vehicle fuel
*Office supplies
*Protective clothing
*Utilities
Operating Budgets have two primary expenditures.
Personal expenses
Operating expenses
what are the 4 additional types of operating budgets?
*Line-Item budgets
*program budgets
*zero-base budgets
*performance budgets
Line-Item Budgets are
Traditionally, a line-item budget lists expenditures by item
Program Budgets
Program budgets are like line-item budgets except that they categorize expenses by program or activity. They provide a good overview of expenses being allotted to each program or activity of the fire service, which provides valuable data for comparison and ensuing that priorities are being met.
Zero-Base Budgets
As its name implies, in a zero-base budget all previously funded items begin at zero. No program, activity, service, or item receives funding automatically based on the precedence of the previous year. Instead, each projected expenditure must be justified with cost/benefit data. While it can require a significant amount of effort, zero-based budgeting can help identify and eliminate needless spending or redundancy.
Performance Budgets
In performance budgeting, expenses are categorized according to the objective they are focused on achieving. unlike other types, performance budgets also provide information on the efficiency and efficacy of the spending.
What are the Three Phases of the budget process?
1) Internal Preparation
2) External Review & Negotiation
3) Implementation
Budget:
Internal Preparation involves a number of important activities, including:
(5 areas)
*defining how the budget will be structured (i.e., what type of budget to use)
*collecting data on activities and expenditures over the current fiscal year.
*assessing how expenditures aligned with the current budget in place (i.e. Any areas of deficit? Any areas of surplus?)
*forecasting the upcoming year’s fiscal needs (looking at strategic plans in effect, calendar, etc.)
*reviewing the forecast and budget proposals with other individuals, according to protocol.
This is not usually a linear, one-time-through process; often, numerous iterations of these steps are required as additional information is gathered and reviewers offer different ideas.
External Review & Negotiation
Since fire departments rely on outside funding (usually the municipal government), the budget
presented for external review will likely need to be changed before it is finally acceptable. Local governments have budget constraints and other competing priorities to contend with when reviewing
a fire department’s budget proposal.
Implementation
Regardless of how much effort goes into planning and obtaining approval of a budget, the process will be of little benefit unless the budget is reviewed throughout the year and used as a guideline for purchasing decisions. Circumstances can change from the forecasts made for the budget, and the budget provides a baseline from which deviations can be observed and analyzed. Implementing a budget involves:
dividing each expense category equally by accounting period (e.g., four parts for four quarters)
revising the budget if unforeseen changes occur (e.g., increases or decreases in funding or budgeted spending, or an unforeseen expense such as could occur if equipment breaks)
tracking variances and researching to determine the underlying causes (e.g., Was the budget too shortsighted? Was the expense foreseeable? Is this variance likely to occur again? etc.)
preparing periodic financial reports and submitting them to the designated officer, according to department procedures.
Primary Revenues come from what sources?
Taxes (73%)
Fundraising (15%)
Other: government funding (12%)
as well as:
Taxes
Borrowing
Leasing
Benefit assessment charges
Fees
strategic alliances
cost sharing and consolidation
fines and citations
sales of assets and services
subscriptions
impact development fees
Federal and state funding
*direct funding of EMS squads – especially in rural areas
*grant aid and low-interest loans – i.e. for capital improvement projects
*fire insurance surcharges – small percentage of fire-related premiums
*vehicle-related fees – vehicle registration and traffic citations (e.g., to cover emergency patient transport)
*general state revenues –allocation from state taxes, especially rural and volunteer fire agencies.
*state-provided services – e.g., training of firefighters, regional hazmat teams, and technical assistance programs.
When preparing a grant proposal, there are eight basic components to include:
1.The proposal summary
2.Introduction of organization
3.The problem statement or
needs assessment
4.Project objectives
5.Project methods or design
6.Project evaluation
7.Future funding
8.The project budget
Private Sector Sources of revenue are?
private foundations
corporate donations
public/private partnerships
What are the three kinds of purchasing processes?
1.Requisitions – high-value purchases (e.g., more than $3,000)
2.Purchase Orders – mid-value purchases (e.g., between $250 and $3,000)
3.Petty Cash - low-value purchases (limited amount of cash disbursed as needed upon request)
If you need to how economically effective the department is in achieving its objectives the most suitable operating budget would be____________?
A) line-item budget
B) Program Budget
C) zero-base budget
D) performance Budget
D) Performance budget
A community survey shows that citizens would prefer paying a flat rate rather than being charged per run/incident as a the department does now. Based on this data, which funding method should the department consider?
A) universal Charges
B) negligence charges
C) subscription charge
D) Impact development charges
E) additional service charge
C) subscription charge
