"Budget Enthusiast"
(A name given to me by the City Controller since I regularly attend the Council Meetings and 14 Budget Hearings)

Encumbrances

 What is an Encumbrance? To you or I, it means something that is owed like a mortgage/rent, car payment/lease, student loans, etc. To the City these are bills they have coming due in the future and the money have committed to pay them. These are the Encumbrance Rollover Reports. This helps you see the City bills, who they are paying and how much they need to pay in the next year and the history of those rollovers. It also breaks these out into various categories.

It's important to subtract these from future revenues to see if there are deficits. Hint - Yes there are some deficits in the City Budget. Sometimes accounts do go below into the Cash Reserves for them.

What you will see in these PDF's are many of the payments made in the funds and who bids were awarded to for some projects.
Fraser Sherman defines an Encumbrance as:  "A restriction placed on how an organization uses money. Suppose your city government votes to spend $100,000 on sidewalk repair in three months. Placing the money in an encumbrance account tells the City staff the money is committed to the sidewalk project and can't be spent on anything else." The commitment of money can also come from issuing purchase orders and awarding bids.
​It is my goal as an Advocate to involve YOU in the process. 

If these are your priorities, I need your VOTE and Donations!

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