Agenda Packets - 1987/07/27 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1987 LONG TERM FINANCIAL PLAN Page Six annual budget has been substantially improved in recent years as a result of greater involvement and participation by Staff and Council. As a consequence the City has been able to continue to provide needed public services to its residents with only modest increases in property tax rates and develop cash flow and contingency reserves needed to maintain its financial integrity. In order to maintain its ability to provide needed public services to its residents the City needs to maintain the present level of financial planning and to expand long range planning efforts begun with the Water and Sewer System Maintenance and Capital Improvement Program. That type of planning should be undertaken for acquisition/replacement and maintenance of all land, buildings and equipment. In January of 1986, the Council approved the purchase of an In-house computer system. Installation of the system occurred in the summer of 1986. This new system has enhanced the financial reporting capabilities of the department. One of the goals of the Department is to maintain and/or improve the City's bond rating. To achieve this, several objectives have been established that were approved during a 1985 Council Goal Setting Session. These objectives are outlined in the following paragraphs. The first objective is the implementation of a fixed asset accounting system. Such a system will enable the City to properly inventory and account for its investment in equipment, vehicles, and buildings and structures. Staff will be working to inventory existing items. After the inventory is completed it will be entered onto the new fixed asset accounting system which will be part of the new computer system. A second objective is to obtain a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the City from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. This Certificate is given to those governmental units whose financial reports are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standard Board. In 1985 only 785 Certificates were awarded to governmental units in the United States and Canada. Of these approximately 41 were awarded to governmental units in Minnesota. In order to receive this Certificated the fixed asset accounting system described in the proceeding paragraph must be Implemented and various statistical tables, listing ten years of data, have to be prepared. Stafr has prepared over half of the statistical tables and is working on the remainder..