2001 12 12 IAB Minutes INVESTMENT ADVISORY BOARD
Meeting
December 12, 2001
I CALL TO ORDER
Regular meeting of the La Quinta Investment Advisory Board was called to order at the
hour of 5:30 P.M. by Chairman Mahfoud followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
PRESENT: Board Members Lewis, Olander, Moulin, Osborne and
Chairman Mahfoud
ABSENT: Board Member Felice
OTHERS PRESENT: John Falconer, Finance Director, Vianka Orrantia, Secretary
and Ken Al-lman, Conrad and Associates
II PUBLIC COMMENTS - none
III CONFIRMATION OF AGENDA
Mr. Falconer advised the Board that the City Council deemed the current
position on the Board vacant. In response to Chairman Mahfoud, Mr. Falconer
advised that the Council would decide whether or not applications would be
taken to fill the vacancy later in the year.
IV CONSENT CALENDAR
1. Approval of Minutes of Meeting on November 14, 2001 for the
Investment Advisory Board.
MOTION - It was moved by Board Member Moulin/Olander to approve
the Minutes of November 14, 2001. Motion carried unanimously.
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Minutes
V BUSINESS SESSION
A. Transmittal of Treasury Report for October, 2001
Mr. Falconer advised the Board that the rates continue to decrease,
and due to the decrease, at mid-year Staff will re-analyze the revenue
forecast for interest income and possibly lower it. Mr. Falconer also
advised that Staff is reviewing the forecast with Council at the second
meeting in January.
In response to Board Member Moulin, Mr. Falconer advised the Board
that the current LAIF percentage is around 16 to 17% due to a
purchase of some commercial paper. Mr. Falconer also advised that
November was a very busy month for both investing and maturing
investments, $5 million was invested in commercial paper, with
approximately $2 to $2.5 million taken out of LAIF.
Board Member Osborne advised that based on page 8 of the
Treasurers Report, he feels that in the upcoming year the City will
have to invest more in commercial paper. Mr. Falconer advised that
upon the release of property taxes in January and May, approximately
$4 million will be placed in commercial paper for thirty days. In
response to Board Member Moulin, Mr. Falconer advised the Board
that most of the commercial paper is placed into GE Capital and paper
carried by brokerage firms. In response to Board Member Osborne,
Mr. Falconer advised the Board that the current options are commercial
paper or T-Notes.
Mr. Falconer advised the Board that the State LAIF limit is $30 million
per account, and as of January 1 st it will be increased to $40 million
per account. General discussion continued as to why this increase is
taking place.
MOTION - It was moved by Board Member Lewis/Osborne to approve,
receive and file the Treasurer's Report for October 2001. Motion
carried unanimously.
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Minutes
VI CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL
A. City of La Quinta FY 00/01 Audited Financial Statements
In response to Chairman Mahfoud, Ken Al-lman of Conrad and Associates
advised the Board that the City of La Quinta has implemented
Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 34, two
years ahead of schedule. Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that the GASB
34 dramatically revises and revamps what local government financial
statements look like. Mr. Al-lman stated that one of the most beneficial
aspects of the new financial format reporting for local government is the
MD&A (Management Discussion and Analysis). The Finance Department
of the City of La Quinta prepared the entire report. Mr. Al-lman advised
the Board that Conrad & Associates did word process some of the
material, but all the schedules were prepared by the City's Finance
Department and the MD&A was entirely completed by the City, with no
involvement from Conrad and Associates. Mr. Al-lman advised the
Board that the MD&A is a required part of the new Financial Statement
Format. The purpose of this is to explain to the reader the relationship
of the different parts of the Financial Statements to each other and to
analyze the financial data to the reader, and to interpret the data, tell
what the numbers mean and what kind of conclusions can be extracted
from the financial data. Mr. Al-lman informed the Board that Conrad and
Associates currently audits forty cities and that only four out of the forty
cities, (City of La Quinta one of them) has implemented GASB 34 to
date. Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that Mr. Falconer, (in the MD&A)
has clearly stated in understandable terms, what the new Financial
Statements are trying to communicate to the reader.
Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that in the schedule on page 16, is the
first Financial Statement "per say." GASB's objective was to have on
one page a simple Balance Sheet, following as much as they could a
business model of financial reporting, such as all assets, liabilities and the
equity of the City all on one page. Cash and investments have not
changed. Just above the total assets line, there are three lines for capital
assets, land 913 million, construction progress of 920 million and other
capital assets of 9276 million, which includes the City's furniture,
equipment, vehicles and buildings. A significant part of this is the City's
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infrastructure, street systems, all the public infrastructure assets the City
owns and is responsible for, which have not been previously reported on
the balance sheet. GASB 34 is trying to bring up the level of reporting
by requiring that all assets of the City be placed on the Balance Sheet,
which also includes the street systems. All liabilities, not just the
accounts payable, but all liabilities including the City's long term bonded
indebtedness are reported. Debt assets have been broken down into
various categories; the first line, capital assets, shows which portion of
the City's net assets: equity or net worth, is tied up in investments or
tied up in fixed assets, $217 million of the City's equity is invested in
hard capital assets and the remainder of the City's equity is identified by
the various legal restrictions that pertain to them. Examples include,
Public Safety at 972 thousand, Planning and Development at 929 million,
Public Works at 91 2 million and Debt Service ¢3 million and unrestricted
equity at ¢30 million, which reflects the City's "snap shot" position from
a Balance Sheet perspective. Mr. Al-laman advised the Board that the
next schedule on page 17 is a statement of activities, based on the
accrual basis of the accounting, and the most important items are the
three lines located on the bottom of the schedule; change in net assets
or net income is 924 million, which means that the equity at the
beginning of the year increased from ¢269 million to equity at the end of
the year 9293 million. The Income Statement is for the entire City, with
accrual basis of the accounting, which is formatted to focus on the
various functions of the City of La Quinta, such as General Government,
Public Safety, Community Services, Planning and Development, Public
Works and also shows the expenses of each function, the program
revenues of each function and than also shows both functions of local
government, do not have sufficient program revenue to cover their
program expenses. The government is required to show the deficit of
program revenues to cover program expenses to identify the need to
have general revenues be sufficient to cover the shortfall of program
revenues under program expenses. These two schedules constitute the
government wide Financial Statements; there is a government wide
Balance Sheet and also Income Statement. The next schedule, on page
18 and 19 is the traditional Balance Sheet report for the City of La
Quinta. This sheet is based on the modified accrual basis of accounting,
it does not have on it the fixed assets or capital assets of the City, or the
long term debt, and it is a Balance Sheet from a working capital
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standpoint, current assets and current liabilities. The Accounting
Standards Board felt that there is some legitimacy to this form of
reporting. They wanted the reader to see the first two schedules on the
accrual basis of accounting, just like business reporting, but also wanted
the reader to get a good feel of what the City's working capital position
was, the City's current assets minus the current liabilities. One of the
major changes in this reporting, with the columns going across the top,
is that the focus was formally on fund types, such as special revenue
fund types, capital project fund types, debt service fund types, but the
new reporting is focused on five major funds here at the City of La
Quinta. The new accounting standard GASB 34 defines what a major
fund is: generally, funds that account for more than 10% of assets. The
five funds here at the City of La Quinta, constitute the five major funds
of the City La Quinta and all other funds of the City have been placed
into "Other Governmental Funds." The majority of the City's assets are
accounted for in the five major funds. The Accounting Standard Board
felt that it was more informational for the reader to see the financial
· activity of the major funds of the City rather than see some generic
grouping of funds by fund type. This can be seen on the Income
Statement located on pages 22 and 23. This is an Income Statement
on the modified accrual basis of accounting, formatted in same way as
the Balance Sheet on pages 18 and 19. The major activity of the City is
concentrated into a general fund and the three funds of the special
revenue fund and than a capital project fund. Most of the activity of the
City of La Quinta is focused in the five funds, accounting for 85% of the
City's total revenue are in the five funds and there are another twenty
non-major funds that are represented in the Other Governmental Funds
category. Mr. Al-lman commented that allows the reader to be aware of
the significant redevelopment activity, general fund activity, capital
project activity and to focus in on the funds, and evaluate the City of La
Quinta's activity. At the end of the statement, on page 24 is a
reconciliation of the net income and it has been reconciled to the Income
Statement in the government wide financial statements on page 17. On
page 24 the number at the top is $5.3 million and looking at the bottom
of page 23, the last column on the right, third line from the bottom is the
$5.3 million and it is net income on the accrual basis of accounting and
reconciles that to net income on the accrual basis of accounting and 824
million, which can be located on page 17, which is the third line from the
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bottom. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board requires a
reconciliation so that the reader can understand if interested, how the
numbers change from the fund financial statements from the modified
basis of accounting to the government wide Financial Statements which
is on the accrual basis of accounting. The schedule on page 25 is the
reporting for the proprietary fund for the City of the La Quinta, 'the
equipment replacement fund. On page 26 is the Income Statement for
the equipment replacement fund, page 27 is the Statement of Cash
Flows for the equipment replacement fund, and on page 28 is the
reporting for the fiduciary funds for the City, then the notes to the
Financial Statements and some combining statements in the back of the
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Mr. Al-lman advised the Board
that the schedules reviewed are the primary or basic Financial Statements
of the City, structured so that there are two schedules in the front that
are communicating a Balance Sheet and Income Statement on the
government wide basis and some additional schedules that focus on the
major funds of the City. Mr. Al-lman also advised the Board that the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board is meaning to provide the
reader with accrual basis data just like a business would report and still
give the traditional fund reporting on a working capital basis. Mr. Al-lman
again stated that Mr. Falconer did a great job on explaining the significant
fluctuations and variations on the prior year in the MD&A.
In response to Board Member Moulin, Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that
there is a developer loans receivable on the balance sheets associated
with reimbursements and loans to developers, in a modified accrual basis
of accounting, on page 18 and 19, in the item listed "loans receivable"
in the asset section in the amount of $10 million. Under the liability
section, listed is deferred revenue of $10 million dollars, a portion of the
deferred revenue has been excluded. Mr. Al-lman also advised the Board
that on page 16, the deferred revenue has been eliminated from the
accrual basis financial statements. With the accrual basis, we would
want to recognize all revenues earned by the City, so deferred revenue
is setup however, it is not certain if in fact it will be collected in future
periods, so the receivable is offset with a liability called deferred revenue.
In response to Board Member Moulin, Mr. Al-lman also advised the Board
that the entire $10 million of developer loans that are on the balance
sheet are supported by a detailed list of individual loans, and each loan
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has been evaluated and identified in the amount of deferred revenue that
should or should not be reported for each. Mr. Al-lman also stated that
any event in the future could change the collectability of any receivable
and the determination of the initial amount is not a problem.
Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that there were not audit adjustments in
the area of cash and investments. Mr. Al-lman advised the board that
cash investments were the single most focal point of their audits. It has
been identified as an area of extreme importance to all users of the
Financials Statements and is also the heart of financial reporting from an
audit prospective as well, due to the legal issues associated with
investments.
In response to Board Member Moulin, Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that
the requirements of the Investment Policy were up to date, with the
current status of the government code, which changes every year. Also
verified that the policy contained the appropriate controls so that all
investments are safe guarded.
Mr. Al-lman again advised the Board that the implementation of this
government policy, two years ahead of schedule, was a remarkable
accomplishment for the Finance Department here at the City of La
Quinta. He also stated that with other cities that have also implemented
this government policy, Conrad and Associates did all the work, where
as the City of La Quinta's Finance Department put the policy in place.
In response to Chairman Mahfoud, Mr. Al-lman advised the Board that
the some of the "recognized" revenues generated by the City of La
Quinta are property tax dollars, sales tax dollars, transient occupancy tax,
gas tax and developer fees, all the mentioned revenues are recognized in
local governmental reporting. Mr. Falconer advised the Board that
another example of recognized revenue was money owed by C.V.W.D.,
where a Contractor is hired to install water lines and the City manages
the job, and then C.V.W.D. is than billed by the City of La Quinta. Under
one method of accounting the revenue is recognized and under another
method the City could not recognize the revenue because a physical
invoice was not billed to C.V.W.D. Mr. Al-lman stated that
reimbursement to C.V.W.D. was billed on a dollar for dollar basis,
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because the City is not a Contractor making a profit. Mr. Al-lman
advised the Board that revenue recognition for governmental accounting
are much more straight forward for local government agencies vs. that
in the private sector. Mr. Falconer advised the Board that the City of La
Quinta is a contract City, and the City does not have enterprise funds,
such as water or sewer and is not subject to revenue recognition issues
such as with the recent Enron events.
Mr. Al-lman stated that GASB is trying to answer all questions that
someone might have on local government financials.
Board Member Osborne asked if the City set up deferred liability for
maintenance replacem.ent for capital improvements, such as roads and
buildings? Mr. Falconer replied that the City had a pavement study done
five years ago and the number recommended for maintaining the streets
to the current level was approximately $1 million per year.
Noted and Filed.
B. Month End Cash Report - November, 2001
Board Member Osborne asked at what point would Mr. Falconer
consider extending investments past the current two-year maximum
maturity to get a better yield? Mr. Falconer stated that considering the
current market, the City would not currently extend maturities past the
two-year maximum.
Noted and Filed
C. Pooled Money Investment Board Report - September, 2001
Noted & Filed.'
VII BOARD MEMBER ITEMS
None
Investment Advisory Board December 12, 2001
Minutes
VIII ADJOURNMENT
MOTION - It was moved by Board Member Lewis/Olander to adjourn the meeting at
6:36 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
Vianka Orrantia
Secretary