Management Report and Recommendations 12/31/1988

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City of Lino Lakes, Minnesota Management Report, Page 13 The amount listed as "City property" totaled $142,553 at December 31, 1988. The City acquired these properties in order to recover the assessments levied against some of these properties. The City has received clearance to permit development of these lots from various authorities (Army Corps of Engineers and State DNR). The City intends to sell the properties and recover the related assessments. The City had determined that the amounts will not be fully recoverable. The City has received bids on the property and is currently litigating a settlement. In addition to the above parcels which are subject to sale, the City had additional City lots (City Hall) which were assessed in 1988. An alternative procedure to assessing City property is to adopt a property tax levy or other City funding source to pay for the cost of assessments which benefit either City property directly or the City of Lino Lakes' overall system. Examples of such assessments are laterals for City Hall property, park property or general benefit improvements such as lift stations and water storage facilities. The City generally would not "pay itself' for assessments on property that it owns. These amounts are commonly included in the fmancing arrangements as a property tax element of the bond issue. We recommend that the City consider alternate procedures relative to assessments which benefit City property or which improve the City's overall core water and sewer distribution systems. The City collects special assessments through Anoka County. This agency arrangement has advantages to the City primarily in saving administrative time and effort required to bill and collect special assessments. A certain level of control, however, is lost through the agency arrangement insofar as accounting records are located and maintained at both the County and the City. Correlation of these records is required to assure accurate tabulation of receivables and amounts received. In order to assure that the City's best interests are guarded, the City should improve internal records with regard to special assessments and compare such records periodically to County records. Additionally, Anoka County is not providing detail of penalty and interest on delinquent collections. In light of the magnitude of past delinquencies, this allocation should be provided. We recommend that the City request improved data from the County. The above procedures will allow the City greater assurance that all of its special assessments are properly spread for collection. Additionally, the City will have the ability to generate year end balances for annual financial reporting with greater ease and accuracy. The increased level of control required is partially a function of increased assessment activity. Special assessments receivable (City-wide) were less than $100,000 in 1979. Assessments receivable were over $2