Laguna Beach County Water District
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The District fiscal year budget is an essential tool for proper financial management. During the process of planning and preparing the budget, the District reassesses its plans and goals for the upcoming fiscal year as well as for future years. The budget is developed with input from management staff and is adopted prior to the start of the fiscal year (July 1).
Depending on appropriation amount, the Board of Directors and Commission must approve all supplementary appropriations to the budget. The level of budgetary control, that is, the level at which expenditures cannot exceed the appropriated amount, is at the account level. The Board and the Commission monitor the budget through the annual audit, quarterly financial summary reports, and monthly financial and investment reports.
The District’s Budget Process
District management staff meet in January of each fiscal year to plan the upcoming budget preparation timeline and develop budgetary and program goals and objectives for the following fiscal year. Staff develop operating budget worksheets for their respective departmental accounts and submit those worksheets to the Finance Department in March. Capital budget requests are developed based on capital facility assessments and needs and in conjunction with the District’s 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP).
Initial review of the preliminary budget by the Board of Directors and the Commission occurs during each body’s respective dedicated budget workshop meeting in May. If the Board requests any modifications to the budget, District staff amends the budget reflecting the Board’s direction. The final draft of the budget is then resubmitted to the Commission at its June meeting for approval. The final draft of the budget is then resubmitted to the Board of Directors at its June meeting for formal adoption by a motion and majority vote process. After this action, the budget is then considered final for the upcoming fiscal year.
The budget may be amended during the year by Board action. This process involves requests by staff to the Board for additional funding and the Board approves or rejects the requests by motion and majority vote.