Quincy Il Municipal Financial Report

Evaluation of the Financial Report of the City of Quincy, IL

10/2/06

Upon reviewing the report made available by the city of Quincy, Illinois, I have prepared this evaluation of the report. The purpose of this evaluation is to ease the understanding of the finances of the city. I will discuss the variety of funds the city uses and accounting practices for those funds as well as anomalies that arise from reviewing the report. In addition five relevant ratios will be used to assist in summarizing the financial condition of the city.

The major governmental funds used by the city include the General Fund, the Motor Fuel Tax Fund, and the State and Federal Grants Funds. The Motor Fuel Tax Fund is used for projects financed by the Motor Fuel Tax which is assembled and dispersed by the State of Illinois. The State and Federal Grants funds are financed by grants from state and federal governments and are used to support community development and housing. Although this may seem understandable, there is no mention in the report of what “community development” actually means. What is known, however, is that these grants are legally restricted to specific uses. The General Fund accounts for all revenues and expenses not allocated specifically to other funds.

Governmental funds not considered major include Special Revenue Fund, Capital Project Fund, Debt Service Fund, and Permanent Funds. The name of the Permanent Fund does not in any way describe what it is for, but notes to the financial statements indicate that it accounts for the City’s revolving loan funds.

Besides the Governmental Funds the city also maintains Proprietary Funds and Fiduciary Funds. Types of Proprietary Funds include the Enterprise Funds which consist of the Water Fund, Sewer Fund, and Quincy Regional Airport Fund, and the Internal Service Funds. Within the realm of Fiduciary Funds are the Police Pension, Fire Pension, and Private Purpose Trust Funds. All of these names aptly describe their uses except for the Private Purpose Trust Funds which are funds with revenues that are clearly regulated for use in specific ways. An example is the Attack on America Memorial Fund.

All government-wide financial statements as well as Proprietary Fund and Fiduciary Fund statements use the accrual basis of accounting. Modified accrual is used for Governmental Fund financial statements.

The Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for each fund adequately describe where the money comes from and how it is spent. By using the notes along with the financial statements it is easy to classify how the City’s finances are used. The report clearly states how much of the Debt Service funds are used for interest payments and how much is used for retirement of the principal. On page 19 the Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for Governmental