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Government-Wide Financial Statements — The government-wide financial statements are designed to <br /> provide readers with a broad overview of the City's finances, in a manner similar to a private sector <br /> business. <br /> The Statement of Net Position presents financial information on all of the City's assets, liabilities, and <br /> deferred inflows/outflows of resources,with the difference reported as net position. Over time,increases or <br /> decreases in net position may serve as a useful indicator of whether the financial position of the City is <br /> improving or deteriorating. <br /> The Statement of Activities presents information showing how the government's net position changed <br /> during the most recent fiscal year. All changes in net position are reported as soon as the underlying event <br /> giving rise to the change occurs,regardless of the timing of related cash flows.Thus,revenues and expenses <br /> are reported in this statement for some items that will only result in cash flows in future fiscal periods <br /> (e.g.,uncollected taxes and earned,but unused, compensated absences). <br /> Both of the government-wide financial statements distinguish functions of the City that are principally <br /> supported by taxes and intergovernmental revenues(governmental activities)from other functions that are <br /> intended to recover all or a significant portion of their costs through user fees and charges (business-type <br /> activities). The governmental activities of the City include general government, public safety, streets and <br /> highways, sanitation, culture and recreation, and economic development. The business-type activities of <br /> the City include water, sewer, storm water, and street light. <br /> The government-wide financial statements include only the City itself. The Economic Development <br /> Authority(EDA),although legally separate,functions for all practical purposes as a department of the City <br /> and,therefore,has been included as an integral part of the primary government. <br /> Fund Financial Statements—A fund is a grouping of related accounts that is used to maintain control over <br /> resources that have been segregated for specific activities or objectives. The City,like other state and local <br /> governments, uses fund accounting to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal <br /> requirements. All of the funds of the City can be divided into two categories: governmental funds and <br /> proprietary funds. <br /> Governmental Funds — Governmental funds are used to account for essentially the same functions <br /> reported as governmental activities in the government-wide financial statements. However, unlike the <br /> governmental-wide financial statements, governmental fund financial statements focus on the near-term <br /> inflows and outflows of spendable resources,as well as on balances of spendable resources available at the <br /> end of the fiscal year. Such information may be useful in evaluating a government's near-term financing <br /> requirements. <br /> Because the focus of governmental funds is narrower than that of the government-wide financial statements, <br /> it is useful to compare the information presented for governmental funds with similar information presented <br /> for governmental activities in the government-wide financial statements. By doing so, readers may better <br /> understand the long-term impact of the government's near-term financing decisions. The governmental <br /> funds Balance Sheet and the governmental funds Statement of Revenues, Expenditures, and Changes in <br /> Fund Balances provide a reconciliation to facilitate this comparison between governmental funds and <br /> governmental activities. <br /> -6- <br />