Comprehensive Annual Financial Report - City of Santa Monica

CITY OF SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
Management’s Discussion and Analysis, Continued
Year ended June 30, 2009
Proprietary funds. Proprietary funds provide the same type of information as the government-wide
financial statements, but in more detail. The proprietary fund financial statements provide separate
information for the wastewater and bus operations, which are considered to be major funds of the City.
The City maintains two different types of proprietary funds. Enterprise funds are used to report the same
functions presented as business-type activities in the government-wide financial statements. Internal
service funds are an accounting device used to accumulate and allocate costs internally among the City’s
various functions. The City uses internal service funds to account for its vehicle operations, risk
management program and information technology and communications operations. The vehicle
operations and insurance services for bus operations primarily benefit business-type activities and are
included within business-type activities in the government-wide financial statements. All other risk
management functions, information technology and communication services primarily benefit
governmental funds and are included within governmental activities in the government-wide financial
statements. Individual fund data for the internal service funds is provided in the supplementary
information section of this report.
The proprietary funds financial statements can be found at pages 28 through 32 of this report.
Fiduciary funds. Fiduciary funds, which consist solely of trust and agency funds, are used to account for
resources held for the benefit of parties outside the City. Fiduciary funds are not included in the
government-wide financial statements because the resources are not available to support the City’s
operations. The accounting used for fiduciary funds is much like that used for proprietary funds.
The fiduciary funds financial statements can be found on page 34 of this report.
Notes to the basic financial statements. The notes to the basic financial statements provide additional
information that is essential to a full understanding of the data provided in the government-wide and fund
financial statements. The notes to the basic financial statements begin on page 35 of this report.
GOVERNMENT-WIDE FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
As noted earlier, net assets may serve over time as a useful indicator of a government’s financial position.
In the case of the City, assets exceeded liabilities by $1.5 billion at the close of the current fiscal year.
As shown below, the largest portion of the City’s net assets, $997.5 million or 64.7%, reflects the City’s
investment in capital assets less any related outstanding debt used to acquire those assets. The City uses
these capital assets to provide services to citizens; consequently, these assets are not available for future
spending. Although the City’s investment in its capital assets is reported net of related debt, it should be
noted that resources needed to repay this debt must be provided from other sources, since the capital
assets themselves cannot be used to liquidate liabilities.
An additional portion of the City of Santa Monica’s net assets, $188.8 million or 12.3% represent
resources that are subject to external restrictions on how they may be used. The remaining balance of
unrestricted net assets, $354.6 million or 23.0%, may be used to meet the government’s ongoing
obligations to citizens and creditors.
At the end of the current fiscal year, the City of Santa Monica is able to report positive balances in all
three categories of net assets, both for the government as a whole, as well as for its separate governmental
and business-type activities. The same situation held true for the prior fiscal year.
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