2013-R-24 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-R-24
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF EDGEWATER, FLORIDA, REQUESTING MEMBERS
OF THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO OPPOSE
LEGISLATION THAT WOULD MANDATE THE USE OF A
UNIFORM CHART OF ACCOUNTS FOR ALL
GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES TO REPORT FINANCIAL
INFORMATION; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
WHEREAS, in 2011 the Florida Legislature passed and the Governor signed Senate Rill
1292 requiring the chief financial officer to recommend a uniform chart of accounts for reporting
financial information for all state agencies, local governments, educational entities, and entities
of higher education; and
WHEREAS, each entity of the state and local government is different, serves a different
purpose and uses a different basis of accounting; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Chart of Accounts Project is to develop a uniform chart
of accounts to be used by all governmental entities for reporting assets, liabilities, equities,
revenues and expenditures; and
WHEREAS, the draft uniform chart of accounts will impact over 2350 governmental
entities; and
WHEREAS, each of the impacted entities are currently accountable to the electorate,
citizens and users of their services; and
WHEREAS, Florida governments are required to meet many reporting requirements,
both at the state and federal level, including reporting to the Florida Department of Financial
Services, Florida Equal Employment Opportunity, Florida Unemployment Compensation,
Florida Retirement System, Federal Affordable Care Act, and payroll taxes and W-2 information
to the Internal Revenue Service; and
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WHEREAS, the monthly reporting may be prepared on a basis of accounting that may
differ from the basis of accounting used to prepare the year-end audited financial statements and
that the monthly information will not be validated; and
WHEREAS, the new level of detail required at the object level for monthly reporting is
far greater than the level of detail reported either in the audited financial statements or in the
Annual Financial Report required pursuant to the provisions of Section 218.32(1)(a), Florida
Statutes; and
WHEREAS, there will be no attempt to validate any of the data before it is posted for
public viewing and this results in a high risk that the data will be inaccurate, invalid or
incomplete; and
WHEREAS, the establishment of a uniform chart of accounts without requiring
uniformity in other areas such as in the basis of accounting and in the accounting treatment of
various transactions in itself will not provide users with any meaningful comparisons between
organizations; and
WHEREAS, regardless of the approach taken to implement the provisions of Section
215.89, Florida Statutes, significant resources will be required to achieve the goals of the chief
financial officer; and
WHEREAS, the costs of implementing the Uniform Chart of Accounts far exceeds any
benefit that taxpayers may accrue; and
WHEREAS, we believe that transparency and accountability of the use of public funds
to citizens and other stakeholders is paramount but that it must be done while simultaneously
limiting the burden to the entities and preserving the autonomy of each entity of government; and
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WHEREAS, we believe that legislation should be enacted that prescribes minimum
desired transparency reporting by local governments, leaving it to the local governments to
include such information on their web sites, and that such legislation should not impose
significant financial burdens on local governments.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of Edgewater, Florida:
Section 1. Hereby urges members of the Florida Legislature to oppose legislation that
would mandate the use of a minimum chart of accounts for all governmental entities to report
financial information.
Section 2. All resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed.
Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption.
After a motion by Ccancinuorylan pc,wor- with Second by COunejuxxnar,l nnunten
the vote on this resolution held on November 4, 2013 was as follows.
AYE NAY
Mayor Mike Thomas )(CU SLR
Councilwoman Christine Power X
Councilwoman Gigi Bennington X
Councilman Mike Ignasiak _
Councilman Gene Emter X
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PASSED AND DULY ADOPTED this 4th day of November, 2013.
ATTEST: CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF EDGEWATER, FLORIDA
t11.1.∎_ By: /,C/, .
Bonnie Wenzel a Mike Ignasiak
City Clerk Vice—Mayor
Robin L. Matusick
Paralegal
For the use and reliance only by the city of Edgewater, Approved by the City Council of the City of Edgewater
Florida. Approved as to form and legality by: at a meeting held on this 4`s day of November,2013
Aaron R. Wolfe,Esquire under Agenda Items No. 8 t) .
City Attorney
Doran, Sims,Wolfe&Kundid
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