b"GlossaryAbatement: A reduction or elimination of a real or personal property tax, motor vehicle excise, a fee, charge, or special assessment imposed by agovernmental unit. Granted only on application of the person seeking the abatement and only by the committing governmental unit.Accounting System: The total structure of records and procedures that identify record, classify, and report information on the nancial positionand operations of a governmental unit or any of its funds, account groups, and organizational components.Accrued Interest: The amount of interest that has accumulated on the debt since the date of the last interest payment, and on the sale of a bond,the amount accrued up to but not including the date of delivery (settlement date). (See Interest)Amortization: The gradual repayment of an obligation over time and in accordance with a predetermined payment schedule.Appropriation: A legal authorization from the community's legislative body to expend money and incur obligations for specic public purposes. Anappropriation is usually limited in amount and as to the time period within which it may be expended.Arbitrage: As applied to municipal debt, the investment of tax-exempt bonds or note proceeds in higher yielding, taxable securities. Section 103 ofthe Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Code restricts this practice and requires (beyond certain limits) that earnings be rebated (paid) to the IRS.Assessed Valuation: A value assigned to real estate or other property by a government as the basis for levying taxes.Audit: An examination of a community's nancial systems, procedures, and data by a certied public accountant (independent auditor), and areport on the fairness of nancial statements and on local compliance with statutes and regulations. The audit serves as a valuable managementtool in evaluating the scal performance of a community.Audit Report: Prepared by an independent auditor, an audit report includes: (a) a statement of the scope of the audit; (b) explanatory comments asto application of auditing procedures; (c) ndings and opinions. It is almost always accompanied by a management letter which containssupplementary comments and recommendations.Available Funds: Balances in the various fund types that represent non-recurring revenue sources. As a matter of sound practice, they arefrequently appropriated to meet unforeseen expenses, for capital expenditures or other one-time costs.Balance Sheet: A statement that discloses the assets, liabilities, reserves and equities of a fund or governmental unit at a specied date.Betterments (Special Assessments): Whenever a specic area of a community receives benet from a public improvement (e.g., water, sewer,sidewalk, etc.), special property taxes may be assessed to reimburse the governmental entity for all or part of the costs it incurred. Each parcelreceiving benet from the improvement is assessed for its proportionate share of the cost of such improvements. The proportionate share may bepaid in full or the property owner may request that the assessors apportion the betterment over 20 years. Over the life of the betterment, one yearsapportionment along with one years committed interest computed from October 1 to October 1 is added to the tax bill until the betterment has beenpaid.Bond: A means to raise money through the issuance of debt. A bond issuer/borrower promises in writing to repay a specied sum of money,alternately referred to as face value, par value or bond principal, to the buyer of the bond on a specied future date (maturity date), together withperiodic interest at a specied rate. The term of a bond is always greater than one year. (See Note)Bond and Interest Record: (Bond Register)The permanent and complete record maintained by a treasurer for each bond issue. It shows theamount of interest and principal coming due each date and all other pertinent information concerning the bond issue.Bonds Authorized and Unissued: Balance of a bond authorization not yet sold. Upon completion or abandonment of a project, any remainingbalance of authorized and unissued bonds may not be used for other purposes, but must be rescinded by the community's legislative body to beremoved from community's books.Bond Issue: Generally, the sale of a certain number of bonds at one time by a governmental unit.Bond Rating (Municipal): A credit rating assigned to a municipality to help investors assess the future ability, legal obligation, and willingness ofthe municipality (bond issuer) to make timely debt service payments. Stated otherwise, a rating helps prospective investors determine the level ofrisk associated with a given xed-income investment. Rating agencies, such as Moody's and Standard and Poors, use rating systems, whichdesignate a letter or a combination of letters and numerals where AAA is the highest rating and C1 is a very low rating.Budget: A plan for allocating resources to support particular services, purposes and functions over a specied period of time. (See PerformanceBudget, Program Budget)Beaufort County, SC | Budget Book 2024 Page 564"