Glossary

Plain-language definitions for the budget terms used on these pages.

General Fund (GF): The city's main operating fund. Money here is unrestricted — the Council can spend it on almost any city purpose (police, fire, parks, admin). This is where the ~$30M structural deficit lives.
Structural deficit: An ongoing, recurring gap where normal expenses exceed normal revenues year after year — as opposed to a one-time shortfall. It doesn't go away on its own and can't be permanently fixed with one-time money.
One-time (one-time resources): Money available only once — e.g., reserves, a fund transfer, sale proceeds. Useful to bridge a single year but dangerous to rely on for recurring costs, because the gap reappears next year.
Baseline: The starting-point budget built from actual spending and service needs BEFORE any proposed cuts. The FY27-28 plan rebuilt baselines from actual expenditures rather than prior budgets.
Adopted Budget: The final budget formally approved by the City Council. The FY25-26 biennial budget is current; the FY27-28 biennial budget was adopted June 23, 2026.
Proposed Budget: The City Manager's recommended budget before Council adoption — subject to change through hearings.
Biennial budget: A two-year budget. Berkeley budgets in two-year cycles with a mid-cycle update.
Mid-year / Mid-biennial: A check-in partway through. 'Mid-year' here = first half of the fiscal year (Jul–Dec). 'Mid-biennial' = the update between the two years of a biennial budget.
Fiscal Year (FY): Berkeley's budget year runs July 1 – June 30. 'FY2026' = July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. 'FY2027' begins July 1, 2026.
Enterprise Fund: A fund for a service expected to pay for itself through its own fees/charges (e.g., Marina berths, parking). When it can't, it leans on the General Fund.
Special Fund / Special Revenue Fund: Money legally restricted to a specific purpose, often from a dedicated tax or grant (e.g., Measure P for homelessness, Parks Tax). Can't be freely redirected.
Internal Service Fund: A fund where one city department 'charges' others for shared services (e.g., IT, building maintenance, workers' comp). Revenue comes from internal transfers.
Capital Improvement Program (CIP): The multi-year plan for big physical projects — streets, sidewalks, buildings, docks. Separate from day-to-day operating costs. Berkeley's is a 5-year plan, updated each biennium.
Capital Budget (CIP Years 1-2): The actionable, appropriated portion of the CIP — actual funding for that year's projects. Years 3-5 are planning estimates only.
Unfunded liability: A future obligation the city owes (mainly pensions and retiree health / OPEB) for which it has NOT yet set aside enough money. Grows or shrinks with investment returns and assumptions.
OPEB: Other Post-Employment Benefits — chiefly retiree health care, separate from pensions. Often lumped with pensions in 'unfunded liabilities.'
Pension funded ratio: Assets ÷ liabilities for the pension plan. 100% = fully funded. Berkeley was ~66% (FY2020), which the state classified as 'high risk.'
Reduction in Force (RIF): Eliminating positions — both layoffs of filled jobs and removal of vacant (unfilled) positions.
FTE (Full-Time Equivalent): A way to count staffing where 1.0 = one full-time position. Two half-time staff = 1.0 FTE. Lets the city compare headcount consistently.
Vacant vs Filled positions: Vacant = budgeted but no one in the seat (cheaper to cut — no layoff). Filled = an actual employee, so cutting means a layoff.
Charter Officers / Offices: Positions/offices established by the City Charter and somewhat independent of the City Manager: City Attorney, City Auditor, the Director of Police Accountability (ODPA), and the Mayor & Council. They set their own reductions first.
CM-Managed Departments: Departments under the City Manager's authority (Police, Fire, Public Works, etc.) — distinct from Charter offices.
Sales & Use Tax (S&U Tax) measure: Proposed 0.5% local sales-tax increase for the Nov 2026 ballot. Would raise ~$9.0–9.4M/yr, bring Berkeley to 10.75%, and (if passed) reduce the depth of cuts. Needs simple majority.
GO Bond (General Obligation Bond): Borrowing repaid through a dedicated property tax. Needs 2/3 voter approval. The proposed $300M infrastructure bond is a GO bond.
Measure FF (2024): Voter-approved ~$270M, 14-year funding stream (~$15M/yr) for streets, sidewalks, safety, and environmental work ('Safe Streets').
Measure T1 (2016): Voter-approved $100M infrastructure bond, now fully allocated across two phases.
Measure P: Property-transfer-tax measure funding homelessness services; currently spending more than it brings in.
Measure U1: Tax measure supporting affordable housing; finance staff note it ultimately 'rolls up to' the General Fund.
Successor Agency: The entity winding down the dissolved Redevelopment Agency. Its liquidation produces a one-time $7.88M transfer to the city used in the FY27-28 bridge.
Transfers: Money moved between funds. In the GF revenue tab, the large FY26 transfers increase reflects the Successor Agency dissolution and reserve movements.
Budgetary / cash basis: Accounting that records money when cash actually changes hands (vs accrual, which records when earned/owed). The mid-year revenue report is on this basis.
Reserves (Operating / Stability / Catastrophic): Savings set aside for emergencies or smoothing. Drawing them down is a one-time fix. Berkeley's GF available cash fell from $85.4M to $30.6M between 2023 and 2025.
PCI (Pavement Condition Index): 0–100 score of street quality. Berkeley targets a citywide PCI of 70, ideally no street below 50.
% Received (revenue tab): Mid-year actual ÷ full-year adopted budget. Around 50% mid-year is roughly on pace; well above/below flags timing or trend issues.
% of Baseline (dept tabs): The proposed dollar reduction ÷ that department's baseline budget — i.e., how deep the cut is in percentage terms.
S&U Tax Allocation (dept tabs): One-time money assigned to a department to soften its cut in FY27 while awaiting the Nov 2026 sales-tax vote. Mainly Police, Fire, and PRW.