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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 21 11 City Council Work Session - Rename Fund Balance and Resident Survey 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: NOVEMBER 7 , 2011 PREPARED BY : JERILYN ERICKSON, FINANCE DIRECTOR PRESENTED JIM EICHTEN (PRINCIPAL) & ADRIENNE WARREN (MANAGER), BY: MALLOY, MONTAGUE, KARNOWSKI & RADOSEVICH (MMKR) TOPIC : FUND BALAN CE CLASSIFICATIONS DISCUSSION: Introduction The purpose of this agenda item is to present to the Council the new Governme n- tal Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 54 “Fund Balance R e- por t ing and Governmental Fund Type Definitions.” The audi t firm of Malloy, Montague, Karnowski & Radosevich (MMKR) was awarded the professional auditing services contract for years ending D e cember 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013. As part of that Agreement, Mr. Eichten and Ms. Wa r- ren will be presenting information relat ed to GASB No. 54 including the necessary steps the Council must take before December 31, 2011. History On April 18, 2011, the Council adopted the Comprehensive Financial Manag e- ment Policy which addresses Fund Balance Reserves. It was noted at that t ime that the new GASB Statement No. 54 would require some changes to the Policy. Current Circumstances The objective of GASB Statement No. 54 is to enhance the usefulness of fund balance information by providing clear fund balance classifications that can be consistently applied and clarify existing governmental fund type definitions. The following table identifies the n ew c omponents of Fund Balance and corre s- ponding definitions: Component Definition Nonspendable Inherently no n spendable (i.e. invent ories and prepaids) Restricted Externally enforceable limitations on use (generally called reserved) Committed Self - imposed limitations set in place by the highest level of decision making authority Unrestricted (Council) prior to the end if the fi s cal t o which they apply Assigned Limitation resulting from intended use set in place by the delegated body or official Una s signed Residual net resources Some changes that will need to be incorporated into the Comprehensive F i na n- cial Management Policy ar e as follows: 1) Order of resource use when expenditures qualify for more than one co m- ponent of fund balance; 2) Stabilization arrangements for emergency situations; 3) Process for committing fund balance to a specific purpose; and 4) Delegation of authority to assign fund balance . Committing Fund Balance requires the City Council to take formal action prior to the end of the year . This action would limit the use of committed funds for sp e ci f- ic purposes pursuant to constraints imposed by the formal action. Concl usion Updating the Comprehensive Financial Management Policy with the changes noted above and committing fund balance requires formal action by the City Council prior to the end of the year. Staff will be bringing forth recommendations for both items at t he December 19, 2011 council meeting. 2