Other Auditor Reports 12/31/2001

Home Search

Larson Allen' Weishair & Co., LLP ACHIEVE THE DESIRED EFFECT' Business Consultants oi Certified Public Accountants To the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council City of Lino Lakes, Minnesota In planning our audit of the General purpose financial statements of the City of Lino Lakes as of and for the year ended December 31, 2001, we considered its internal control structure in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the general purpose financial statements and not to provide assurance on the internal control structure. During the course of our audit, several items came to our attention that we feel could be addressed by the City of Lino Lakes to more efficiently run the City's operations or improve its internal controls. We herein submit the following suggestions to the City of Lino Lakes for their consideration. Auditor Comments: Capital Project Deficits The financial statements for the capital project funds are presented in Statements 13 and 14 of the 2001 Annual Financial Report. As of December 31, 2001 many of the capital project funds have deficit fund balances. These deficits total $4,404,882. The fund balances at December 31, 2001 and 2000 for these funds are as follows: Fund Dedicated Parks MSA Construction 1997 Construction 1998 Construction Town Center Project Lake/Apollo Dr Improvement Market Place Tax Increment Administrative Tax Increment # 1-5 Tax Increment # 1-7 Tax Increment # 1-8 Fund Balance (Deficit) December 31, 2001 2000 (155,052) (425,143) (1,374,287) (2,839,838) (1,690) (12,974) (421,838) (5,230,822) (397,460) (438,615) (343,018) (2,661,374) (29,501) (360,084) (17,726) (138,243) (18,861) (4,404,882) Increase (Decrease) $ (242,408) (13,472) 1,031,269 178,464 (27,811) (360,084) 12,974 (17,726) 283,595 (18,861) 825,940 The City needs to review each of these funds to determine how the deficits will be eliminated. In some cases, transfers from other funds may be needed to eliminate the deficits. These transfers should be made as soon as the amount can be determined so as not to overstate the fund balances in the transferring funds. We also recommend that the City close funds once the related projects are complete. (8)