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CITY OF SURREY
GLOSSARY
2017-2021 FINANCIAL PLAN
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.
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