FY 18 Annual Report

Central Garage CITY OF SPENCER, IOWA

2018

Departmental Highlights

The City of Spencer utilizes the Central Garage fund as an Internal Service Fund in which the original purchases are not specific to one department, but could be utilized by any department based upon need. The majority of the purchases for the Central Garage fund deal with stock repair parts for vehicles. Once the parts are used they are expensed out to the requesting department and are detailed as an expense in the department that needed the repairs.

Budget Review

Total expenditures for the department totaled $28,313.64 for FY 18, an increase of $21,329.25 (+305.35%) compared to FY 17. This increase in expenditures is highly deceptive as it is caused by a change in accounting practices. Prior to October 2017, all departmental expenses that were expensed to the Central Garage fund were treated as a credit to the expense line item and not as a revenue. Since the City presents its financials on a cash basis, the transfer of funds from the operating departments to this fund should be presented as a revenue. The crediting of expenses made it difficult to track the true expenditures related to the purchase of stock items. This change in accounting is also the reason why revenue for the department jumped in FY 18.

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