3.0. SR 04-02-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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EAR IN E VIEW FINANCE REPORT /INFORMATION: Please refer to the City of Elk River's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the Year Ended December 31, 2000, for financial and statistical information on the City. This Finance Department Annual Report is a review of Finance Department activities, goals, and other pertinent finance related data; it is not intended to provide any fInancial or statistical information on the City. CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT FOR EXCELLENCE IN FINANCIAL REPORTING: The City was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the year ended December 31, 1999. This is the eleventh consecutive year the City has received this award. The 2000 CAFR will also be submitted to the Government Finance Officer's Association of the United States and Canada for review. GASB 34: GASB 34 is a statement issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) that signifies the most comprehensive and, some say, the most important change ever in accounting and financial reporting for state and local governments. The GASB has been working on this project to change the framework of financial reporting for almost 15 years and in June, 1999, released Statement 34, Basic Financial Statements - and Management's Discussion and Analysis - fir State and ucal Governments. Basically, Statement 34 is a new set of accounting rules and standards that apply to state and local government accounting. GASB recognizes that this is a very significant change that requires not only a great deal of time and effort to implement, but also requires learning and applying a new set of standards and rules. In order to give governments time to make the required changes, a three phase implementation timetable was established which is based on the total annual revenues of the government. Elk River falls under phase two which includes governments with total annual revenues of at least $10 million but less than $100 million; required implementation for phase two is for periods beginning after June 15, 2002. For Elk River this means the CAFR for the year ended December 31, 2003, must comply with Statement 34. Although this may seem like a long time away, the Finance Department has already begun working on implementation. Many o(the larger cities are adding staff and increasing their- budgets to accommodate the extra workload; however, we will probably not have that luxury. That means we will need to accomplish all of the GASB 34 requirements, in addition the normal workload, with the resources we currently have. PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT IDEVELOPMENT FINANCING: East Elk River - The final bond issue for the East Elk River Improvements was issued in November. Street and storm sewer costs for the portion of Twin Lakes Boulevard (originally called Tyler Street) that are within the TIF 19 boundary were fmanced through the issuance of the $800,000 General Obligation Tax Increment Bonds, Series 2000A. In 1999, a $5,725,000 general obligation improvement bond was issued to finance the water and sewer project. Street and storm sewer costs are also being fmanced though federal high priority project