Q & A
SECTION

Table of Contents

1. How do I calculate contract and match fund amount?
2. Where does the Council funding come from?
3. Why do we go to DHR on everything if we are an independent agency?
4. Who are these people I work with? And the Council Members?
5. What is the Council mailing address and phone numbers?
6. When is the Council Fiscal Year?
7. What are the types of expenditures? Reserves? 
8. What accounting method does the Council use?
9. What reporting requirements do we have?
10. Who does the Administrative Budget?
11. What about the Programmatic Budget?
12. What is an Encumbrance?

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1. How do I calculate contract and match fund amounts?

If you need to calculate total contract amount, match fund amount, match % or other percentages and amounts, please click here.

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2. Where does the Council funding come from?

Council funding is from four sources. Our primary funding is our Federal Grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. The secondary source of funding comes from the State of Georgia and is the required Matching Portion of our Federal Grant. The third source of funds come from individual grants, from other state or federal agencies. The fourth source of funds comes from Matching Funds required to match Council grants to project contractors, which may include individuals, non-profits, and other state institutions.

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3. Why do we go to DHR on everything if we are an independent agency?

The Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities is an independent agency attached to the Department of Human Resources for administrative purposes. By law, DHR writes our checks and processes our request pertaining to personnel, budget, purchasing, contract, inventory, space, telecommunications, computer and security for a fixed amount of funds each year, $50,000.

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4. Who are these people I work with?

They are the Staff and are currently: "Click Here". For Council Members "Click Here".

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5. What is the Council mailing address and phone numbers?

Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
#2 Peachtree Street, NW
Suite 3-210
Atlanta, GA   30303

Telephone: 404-657-2126  Fax: 404-657-2132  TDD: 404-657-2133 Toll Free: 888-275-4233

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6. When is the Council Fiscal Year?

The Council Fiscal Year is October 1 to September 30 (the Federal Fiscal Year). 

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7. What are the types of expenditures? Reserves?
Just check out all you need to know about expenditures.

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8. What accounting method does the Council use?

    Check out Accounting Methods and other info Here.

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9. What reporting requirements are there?

        Reporting requirements and more here.

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10. Who does the Administrative Budget?

        The Fiscal Officer does most of the Admin Budget.

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11. What about the Programmatic Budget?

        Programmatic Budget questions answered here.

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12. What is an Encumbrance?

        In General, an encumbrance is an instrument used to temporarily set aside funds from a budget or grant for a particular purpose until an invoice is processed. Depending on the entity governing the rules involved, the "instrument" may be something as simple and informal as a memo request to purchase supplies (this could be the case within the DD Council), up to a more formal document like a purchase order to buy supplies (this would apply more to DHR). Within the DD Council, a staff member can set aside funds within their budget using several "instruments". Most of these instruments have a common set of requirements that must be met, and that is to identify the who, what, where, when and be approved by some authority.

• A staff member can use an Encumbrance/Expenditure Form - This is usually the best method to get approval to purchase equipment or start the contract process.
• A member can use forms normally used for other activities such as Out-of-State Travel Request, Airline Ticket Reservations, or Rapid Copy Requests to encumber funds.
• A member may use a formal document like a "Memo or Letter of Agreement", or they may use a very formal "legal" document like a Contract. This would be the case if the intention is to meet the requirement of our 3 year Federal Grant, two years to encumber and one year to liquidate.

The requirements for encumbering funds  usually get more stringent going from budgets to grants and going from within a budget or grant year to crossing over into multiple budget or grant years. 

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Revised: June 26, 2008 .