1983-03-02 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e CITY OF LA PORTE Page 1 of 12 . NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SEPTEMBER 30, 1982 . . \ NOTE 1: SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES The City of La Porte was incorporated on August 10, 1892. The City operates under a Council - Manager form of government and provides the following services: public safety (police and fire), highways and streets, sanitation, health and social services, recreation, public improvements, utilities, planning and zoning and general administrative services. The accounting policies of the City of La Porte conform to generally accepted accounting principles as applicable to governments. The following is a summary of the more significant policies: . A. FUND ACCOUNTING The accounts of the City are organized on the basis of funds and account groups, each of which is considered a separate accounting entity. The operations of each fund are accounted for with a separate set of self-balancing accounts that comprise its assets, liabilities, fund equity, revenues, and expenditures or expenses, as appropriate. Government resources are allocated to and accounted for in individual funds based upon the purposes for which they are to be spent and the means by which spending activities are controlled. The various funds are grouped, in the financial statements in this report, into five generic fund types and three fund categories as follow: Governmental Funds General Fund - The General Fund is the general operating fund of the City. It is used to account for all financial resources except those required to be accounted for in another fund. -. Debt Service Funds The General Obligation Bonds - Interest and Sinking Fund is used to account for the accumulation of resources for, and the payment of general long-term debt principal, interest and related cost. Capital Pro;ects Funds Capital Projects Fund are used to account for financial resources to be used for the acquisition or construction of planned major capital facilities (other than those financed by proprietary funds.) Effective September 30, 1982, the City has created a Capital Improvements Fund by a residual equity transfer of $2,325,425 from the General Fund to provide for planned capital improvement needs of the City. . Proprietary Funds Enterprise Funds - Enterprise Funds are used to account for opera- tions (a) that are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprise - where the intent of the governing body is that the costs (expenses, including depreciation) of providing goods or services to the general public on a continuing basis be financed or recovered primarily through user charges. -11-