Comprehensive Annual Financial Report - St. Tammany Parish ...

ST. TAMMANY PARISH GOVERNMENT
Notes to the Financial Statements 2010
I. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
A. Reporting Entity
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (the Parish) serves as the financial reporting entity for the Parish and is governed by an
elected president and a fourteen-member council. The accompanying financial statements present the Parish and its
component units, entities for which the government is considered to be financially accountable.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has set forth criteria to be considered in determining financial
accountability. These criteria include:
1. Appointing a voting majority of an organization’s governing body, and
a. The ability of the Parish to impose its will on that organization.
b. The potential for the organization to provide specific financial benefits to or impose specific financial
burdens on the Parish.
2. Organizations for which the Parish does not appoint a voting majority but are fiscally dependent on the Parish.
3. Organizations for which the reporting entity’s financial statements would be incomplete or misleading if data of
the organization is not included due to the nature and significance of the relationship.
Blended component units, although legally separate entities, are in substance part of the Parish’s operations. Discretely
presented component units are presented in a separate column in the government-wide financial statements (see note below
for description) to emphasize that it is legally separate from the government. Based on the previous criteria, Parish
Administration has included the following component units:
Discretely presented component units. The following list contains discretely presented component units and the reason
for their inclusion:
St. Tammany Parish Communications (911) District No. 1
1, 1(a)
St. Tammany Parish Coroner 2
Drainage District Nos. 2, 4
1, 1(a)
Gravity Drainage District No. 5
1, 1(a)
Fire Protection District Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 1, 2
St. Tammany Parish Library 1, 2
Mosquito Abatement District No. 2
1, 1(a)
Recreation District Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14
1, 1(a)
Sub-Drainage District Nos. 1 of 3, 2 of GDD 5, 3 of GDD 5
1, 1(a)
Sewerage District Nos. 1, 2, 4
1, 1(a)
Water District Nos. 2, 3
1, 1(a)
Fund financial statements are included in the Other Supplementary Information section of this report for Recreation
District Number 7 and Sub-Drainage District Number 1 of 3. Separate financials are not issued for these districts since St.
Tammany Parish performs administrative and accounting services for these districts. All other discretely presented
component units’ complete financial information can be obtained at the Office of the Legislative Auditor of the State of
Louisiana, 1600 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, at the Legislative Auditors web site, www.lla.state.la.us/ or
from St. Tammany Parish Government Department of Finance, P.O. Box 628, Covington, LA 70434.
B. Government-wide and Fund Financial Statements
The government-wide financial statements (i.e., the Statement of Net Assets and the Statement of Activities) report
information on all of the activities of the primary government and its component units. For the most part, the effect of
inter-fund activity has been removed from these statements. Governmental activities, which normally are supported by
taxes and intergovernmental revenues, are reported separately from business-type activities, which rely to a significant
extent on fees and charges for support. Likewise, the primary government is reported separately from certain legally
separate component units for which the primary government is financially accountable.
The Statement of Activities demonstrates the degree to which the direct expenses of a given function or segment are offset
by program revenues. Direct expenses are those that are clearly identifiable with a specific function or segment. Also
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