City of Surrey 2017 - 2021 Financial Plan

CITY OF SURREY GLOSSARY

Activity —Departmental efforts that contribute to the achievement of a specific set of program objectives; the smallest unit of the program budget.

Annualize — Taking changes that occurred mid-year and calculating their cost for a full year, for the purpose of preparing an annual budget.

Appropriated Surplus — Funds set aside for a non-statutory specific purpose.

Appropriation —A legal authorization to incur obligations and to make expenditures for specific purposes.

Assessed Value — The value that is attributed to real estate and certain personal property by the Assessor as a basis for levying property taxes.

Assessment Ratio — The ratio at which the tax rate is applied to the assessment base.

Assets — Resources owned or held by the City that have monetary value.

BC Assessment Authority (“BCAA”) — The organization that is responsible for assessing property values in British Columbia.

Balanced Budget — A budget in which budgeted revenues are equal to budgeted expenditures, thus neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists.

Bonds — A certificate evidencing a debt on which the issuer promises to pay the holder a specified amount of interest based on the coupon rate, for a specified length of time, and to repay the loan on its maturity. Assets are pledged as security for a bond issue, except in the case of government bonds.

Budget —A plan of financial operations embodying an estimate of proposed expenditures for a given period and the proposed means of financing them.

Biodiversity — The variety of species and ecosystems on earth and the ecological processes of which they are a part—including natural ecosystems, living species and other components that provide genetic diversity.

Build Surrey — A program that consists of a series of large-scale capital projects across the City to accommodate business development and population growth.

Business Improvement Area (“BIA”) — A specific area within which businesses pay fees to fund improvements in commercial business potential.

Canadian Union of Public Employees (“CUPE”) — Union representing the City's unionized staff.

2017-2021 FINANCIAL PLAN

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