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MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 6.1. B. - Page 30 <br /> The Basic Financial Statements <br /> The Basic Financial Statements comprise the City-wide Financial Statements and the Fund Financial Statements; <br /> these two sets of financial statements provide two different views of the City's financial activities and financial <br /> position. <br /> The City-wide Financial Statements provide a longer-term view of the City's activities as a whole, and comprise <br /> the Statement of Net Assets and the Statement of Activities. The Statement of Net Assets provides information <br /> about the financial position of the City as a whole, including all its capital assets and long-term liabilities on the full <br /> accrual basis, similar to that used by corporations. Over time, increases or decreases in net assets may serve as a <br /> useful indicator of whether the financial position of the City is improving or deteriorating. The Statement of <br /> Activities provides information about all the City's revenues and all its expenses, also on the full accrual basis, with <br /> the emphasis on measuring net revenues or expenses of each of the City's programs. The Statement of Activities <br /> explains in detail the change in Net Assets for the year. <br /> All of the City's activities are grouped into government activities and business-type activities, as explained below. <br /> All the amounts in the Statement of Net Assets and the Statement of Activities are separated into governmental <br /> activities and business-type activities in order to provide a summary of these two activities of the City as a whole. <br /> The Fund Financial Statements report the City's operations in more detail than the government-wide statements <br /> and focus primarily on the short-term activities of the City's general fund and other major funds. The Fund <br /> Financial Statements measure only current revenues and expenditures and fund balances; they exclude capital <br /> assets, long-term debt, and other long-term amounts. <br /> Major funds account for the major financial activities of the City and are presented individually, while the <br /> activities of non-major funds are presented in summary, with subordinate schedules presenting the detail for each <br /> of these other funds. Major funds are explained below. <br /> The Government-wide Financial Statements <br /> The Statement of Net Assets and the Statement of Activities present information about the following: <br /> Governmental Activities — All of the City's basic services are considered to be governmental activities, including <br /> general government, community development, public safety, public works, culture-recreation, public <br /> improvements, planning and zoning, and general administration services. These services are supported by <br /> general City revenues such as taxes, and by specific program revenues such as developer fees. <br /> Business-type Activities — All the City's enterprise activities are reported here, including water, sewer, parking, <br /> and the Port of Redwood City. Unlike governmental services, these services are supported by charges paid by <br /> users based on the amount of the service they use. <br /> Government-wide financial statements are prepared on the accrual basis, which means they measure the flow of <br /> all economic resources of the City as a whole. <br /> The government-wide financial statements may be found on pages 16-17 of this report. <br /> Fund Financial Statements <br /> A fund is a grouping of related accounts that is used to maintain control over resources that have been segregated <br /> for specific activities or objectives. The City of Redwood City, like other state and local governments, uses fund <br /> accounting to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal requirements. All of the funds of <br /> the City of Redwood City can be divided into three categories: governmental funds, proprietary funds, and <br /> fiduciary funds. <br /> Fund financial statements provide detailed information about each of the City's most significant funds, called <br /> major funds. The concept of major funds, and the determination of which are major funds, was established by <br /> GASB Statement 34 and replaces the concept of combining lil<e funds and presenting them in total. Instead, each <br /> major fund is presented individually, with all non-major funds summarized and presented only in a single column. <br /> 4 <br />