2003-03-24 Regular Meeting of La Porte City Council

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11 City o La Porte Established 1892 ME To the Honorable Mayor, City Council Members and Citizens of the City of La Porte, Texas: The comprehensive annual financial report of the City of La Porte, Texas (the City) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2002, is hereby submitted. Responsibility for both the accuracy of the data, and the completeness and fairness of the presentation, including all disclosures, rests with the City. To the best of our knowledge and belief, the enclosed data are accurate in all material respects and are reported in a manner designed to present fairly the financial position of all funds and the results of operations of the various funds, account groups and component units of the City. All disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an understanding of the financial activities have been included. The comprehensive annual financial report is presented, in three sections: introductory, financial and statistical. The introductory section includes this transmittal letter, the City's organizational chart and a list of principal officials. The financial section includes general purpose financial statements and combining and individual fund and account group financial statements- and schedules, as well as the auditors' report on the financial statements and schedules. The statistical section includes selected financial and demographic information, generally presented on a multi -year basis. This report is prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for local governments, as prescribed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and other professional standards as applicable. In addition, this report is intended to represent a comprehensive summary of the significant City financial data expected to meet the needs of the City's citizens, employees, financial institutions, intergovernmental agencies and other interested readers. This report includes all funds and account groups of the City of La Porte. The City of La Porte provides a full range of services. These services include police and fire protection, emergency medical services, commercial and residential solid waste collection and disposal, parks and recreational activities and construction and maintenance of street and drainage systems. In addition to general government activities, the City owns and operates enterprise activities providing water and wastewater service, a community convention center, municipal golf course, and an airport. This report also contains the activities of its component units, the La Porte Area Water Authority (the ' Authority), the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) and the La Porte Development Corporation (Section 4B Sales Tax). A component unit is a legally separate entity for which the City (the primary government) is financially accountable. The Authority is a blended component unit and although legally separate from the ' City, it is in substance part of the City's primary operations, providing surface water for the primary benefit of the City's water and wastewater activities. Accordingly, the Authority is reported as an enterprise fund of the City. The Tax Increment Zone provides benefits exclusively for the City through reinvestment financing of ' ad valorem taxes. The (TIRZ) is also a blended component unit and it is reported as a Special Revenue Fund of the City. The La Porte Development Corporation (Section 4B Sales Tax) is governed by a seven member board appointed by City Council and it was organized to undertake projects that the board determines to promote new or expanded business enterprises and various projects as described in Section 4B of Article 5190.6. The operations of the La Porte Development Corporation (Section 4B Sales Tax) are reported in the Special Revenue Funds of the City. 604 W. Fairmont Pkwy. o La Porte, Texas 77571 a (281) 471-5020