Appropriation: legal authority to spend for a specified purpose and period. Expenditure: an amount recognized as spent under the applicable accounting rules. Payment: cash disbursed to a payee. Revenue estimate: a forecast, not cash already collected. Bond authorization: authority to issue debt for capital purposes, not the same as an operating appropriation. These terms should never be used as synonyms.
What to keep in view
- General Fund and special funds are different buckets
- Operating budgets and capital budgets serve different purposes
- Fiscal years run July 1 through June 30 in Delaware’s Checkbook data dictionary
What this edition covers
This first edition focuses on state-level General Fund appropriations, state vendor payments, procurement records and statewide audit resources. It does not combine county, municipal or school-district budgets into a single Delaware spending total. Those governments use separate budgets, accounting periods and reporting structures; comparisons need to be built from like-for-like records rather than added into one headline number.
We distinguish a source’s reported observation from our interpretation. Where an update is preliminary, approximate or not comparable across geographies, we say so. This page is an explanatory guide, not an official government notice or professional advice.
Go to the original records
Official budget documents and fiscal materials.
Fiscal-year and field definitions.
Other public finance sources.