6.4. SR 06-21-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Government-wide Financial Statements The government-wide financial statements are designed to provide readers with a broad overview of the City of Elk River's finances, in a manner similar to a private-sector business. The statement of net assets presents information on all of the City of Elk River's assets and liabilities, with the difference between the two reported as net assets. Over time, increases or decreases in net assets may serve as a useful indicator of whether the financial position of the City of Elk River is improving or deteriorating. The statement of activities presents information showing how the City's net assets changed during the most recent fiscal year. All changes in net assets are reported as soon as the underlying event giving rise to the change occurs, regardless of the timing of related cash flows. Thus, revenues and expenses are reported in this statement for some items that will only result in cash flows in future fiscal periods (e.g., uncollected taxes and earned but unused vacation leave). Both of the government-wide financial statements distinguish functions of the City of Elk River that are principally supported by taxes and intergovernmental revenues (governmental activities) from other functions that are intended to recover all or a significant portion of their costs through user fees and charges (business-type activities). The governmental activities of the City of Elk River include general government, public safety, public works, culture and recreation, and economic development. The business-type activities of the City of Elk River include municipa! liquor, garbage, sewer, water and electric. The government-wide financial statements can be found on pages 19 - 20 of this report. Fund Financial Statements. A fund is a grouping of related accounts that is used to maintain control over resources that have been segregated for specific activities or objectives. The City of Elk River, like other state and local government, uses fund accounting to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal requirements. All of the funds of the City of Elk River can be divided into three categories: governmental funds, proprietary funds and fiduciary funds. Governmental funds. Governmental funds are used to account for essentially the same functions reported as governmental activities in the government-wide f'mancial statements. However, unlike the government-wide financial statements, governmental fund f'mancial, statements focus on near-term inflows and outflows of spendable resources, as well as on balances of spendable resources available at the end of the fiscal year. Such information may be useful in evaluating a government's near-term financing requirements. Because the focus of governmental funds is narrower than that of the government-wide financial statements, it is useful to compare the information presented for governmental funds with similar information presented for governmental activities in the government-wide f'mancial statements. By doing so, readers may better understand the long-term impact by the government's near-term financing decisions. Both the governmental fund balance sheet and the governmental fund statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balances provide a reconciliation to facilitate this comparison between governmental funds and governmental activities. The City of Elk River maintains three individual major governmental funds. Information is presented separately in the governmental fund balance sheet and in the governmental fund statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balances for the general fund, improvement bonds and public safety/city hall expansion. Data from the other governmental funds are combined into a single, aggregated presentation. Individual fund data for each of these nonmajor governmental funds is provided in the form of combining statements elsewhere in this report. The City of Elk River adopts an annual appropriated budget for its general fund and some special revenue funds. A budgetary comparison statement has been provided for those funds to demonstrate compliance with this budget. The basic governmental fund financial statements can be found on pages 21 - 25 of this report. Proprietary funds. When the City of Elk River charges customers for the services it provides - whether to outside customers or to other departments of the City - these services are generally reported in proprietary funds. Proprietary funds are reported in the same way that all activities are reported in the statement of net assets and the statement of 11