2012 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report

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Project Source 2013 Description of Funds Budget Hecla Lake Reservoir Improvements Conservation Trust 184,000 US36 Underpass at Davidson Mesa Conservation Trust 162,500 Steel Ranch South Trailhead Conservation Trust 150,000 Utility Rate Study Water Utility Fund 150,000 FINANCIAL INFORMATION City management is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls that are designed to ensure that the assets of the City are protected from loss, theft or misuse. Also, management ensures that financial statements are prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles through the compilation of adequate accounting data. Internal controls are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that these objectives are met. The concept of reasonable assurance recognizes that: (1) the cost of a control should not exceed the benefits likely to be derived; and (2) the valuation of costs and benefits requires estimates and judgments by management. Budgetary Controls. The City maintains budgetary controls. The objective of these budgetary controls is to ensure compliance with legal provisions embodied in the annual appropriated budget approved by the City Council. The level of budgetary control (that is, the level at which expenditures cannot legally exceed the appropriated amount) is established at the fund level. The City also maintains an encumbrance accounting system as one technique of accomplishing budgetary control. Encumbered amounts do not lapse at year- end and are generally re-appropriated the following year. As demonstrated by the statements and schedules included in the financial section of the report, the City continues to meet its responsibility for sound financial management. OTHER INFORMATION Independent Audit. State statutes require an annual audit by independent certified public accountants. The accounting firm of Eide Bailly LLP was retained by City Council for this purpose. The auditors' report on the Basic Financial Statements is included in the financial section of this report. Awards. The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City of Louisville for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. This was the twenty-second consecutive year that the City of Louisville has received this prestigious award. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a government must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized 4