The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0033.001 2000-2002 F, P O Box 4150 Telephone 808 531 7286 Honolulu, HI 966123150 , - • , ~ , ~ Fax 608 541 9321 January 17, 2001 PRIVATE 8r. CONFIDENTIAL Chair and Members of the County Council County of Hawaii State of Hawan Ladies and Gentlemen• We have audited the general-purpose financial statements of the County of Hawan, State of Hawan ("County"), for the year rnded June 30, 2000, and have issued our report thereon dated October 6, 2000 Under auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, we are providing you with the following information related to the conduct of our audit. OUR RESPONSIBILITY UNDER AUDITING STANDARDS GENERALLY ACCEPTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA We have a responsibility to conduct our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of Amenca. th canymg out this responsibihry, we planned and performed the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the general-purpose financial statements ere free of material misstatemrnt, whether caused by error or fraud Because of the nature of audit evidence and the characteristics of fraud, we are to obtain reasonable, not absolute, assurance that matenal misstatements are detected We have no responsibility to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that misstatements, whether caused by error or fraud, that are not material to the grneral-purpose financial statemrnts are detected In addition, in planning and performing our audit, we considered intemal control in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the general-purpose financial statements An audit does not include examining the effectiveness of intemal control and does not provide assurance on intemal control SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES The significant accounting policies used by the County are described in Note 1 to the general-purpose financial statements There were no changes in the significant accounting policies used by the County for the year ended June 30, 2000 MANAGEMENT JUDGMENTS AND ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES Accounting estimates are an integral part of the general-purpose financial statements prepared by management and are based on management's current Judgments Those Judgments are normally based on knowledge and expenence about past and current events and assumptions about future ~vmts.~Certain accounting estimates are particularly sensitive because of their significance to/~t~h~e~ge~r>~ ~rpose RP'NQ _LP <PNG _LP L J S In^ se] IgE~li} p1'melsl' ] s " Elor i3 em[e~ G [PMG ImemaLOrel a Sw ss eseo~ieio, Chair and Members of the County Council County of Hawaii January 17, 2001 2 financial statements and because of the possibility that future events affecting them may differ markedly from management's currentludgments The liability related to landfill closure and postclosure care costs, the reserve for Judgments, and the workers' compensation and general liability insurance reserves are based on estimates We evaluated the key factors and assumptions used to develop these liability reserves and have concluded that they are reasonable in relation to the general-purpose financial statements taken as a whole SIGNIFICANT AUDIT ADJUSTMENTS We proposed an audit adjustment to the general fund in order to properly record the liability and expenditures related to the real property tax system's capital lease obligation. Additionally, we proposed an audit adjustment to properly record the related fixed asset in the general fixed asset account group. OTHER INFORMATION IN DOCUMENTS CONTAINIIYG AUDITED GENERAL-PURPOSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Our responsibility for other information in documents containing the County's general-purpose financial statements and our report thereon does not extend beyond the financial information identified in our report, and we have no obligation to perform any procedures to corroborate other information contained in these documents We have, however, read the other information included in the County's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, and no matters came to our attention that cause us to believe that such information, or its manner of presentation, is materially inconsistent with the infornation, or manner of its presentation, appearing in the general-purpose financial statements DISAGREEMENTS WITH MANAGEMENT There were no disagreements with management on financial accounting and reporting matters that, if not satisfactonly resolved, would have caused a modification of our report on the County's June 30, 2000 general-purpose financial statements CONSULTATION WITH OTHER ACCOUNTANTS To the best of our knowledge, management has not consulted with or obtained opinions, written or oral, from other independent accountants during the past year that were subJect to the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No 50, Reports on the Applicalron ojAccoimpng Principles MAJOR ISSUES DISCUSSED WITH MANAGEMENT PRIOR TO RETENTION We generally discuss a variety of matters, including the application of accounting pnnciples and auditing standards, with management poor to retention as the County's auditors However, these discussions occurred in the normal course of our professional relationship and our responses were not a condition to our retention Chair and Members of the County Council County of Hawaii January 17, 2001 3 DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN PERFORMING THE AUDTT We encountered no senous difficulties in dealing with management in performing our audit. This information ~s intended solely for the mfonnat~on and use of the County Council and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than this specified party Very truly yours, K~~'(G LL~ The accompanying tables compare the County of I-lawaii's financial position with the other three counties in the State of Hawaii, which were obtained or denved from they respective general-purpose financial statements The following two tables compare the negative trends in the County of Hawaii's general unreserved fund balance and the general fund deficiency of revenues and other sources over expenditures and other uses with the other counties in the state: fiNaral Unnsaved wlwr eaNncv tlaroll finnalWu Maw Kaual 2000 16,100,985 N/A 18,158,216 9,545,498 1999 12,933,610 30,515,000 14,316,720 6,197,329 1998 16,911,530 24,511,000 25,105,674 7,184,930 1997 21,174,450 26,811,000 29,594,938 1,012,708 1996 22,508,509 22.021,000 N/A N/A cn.rl Fund Ercesa/(Odkrency) t1awW kfuoolulu Maw trawl 2000 (5,730,207) ' WA (91,184) 3,111,818 1999 (4,003,978) 9,477,000 (7,933,838) (2,019,975) 19911 (4,933.844) (14,850,000) (4,850,834) (1,271,932) 1997 (1,822,980) 5,111,000 WA (2,431,849) 1998 9,291,534 3,140,000 WA WA ' P,brro • aro-1Me nalduel putty lnnefx-In W t8,707,OfJ In 2QO17, the improvement in the conditions of the general fund for the counties of Maui and Kauai are primanly due to an increase in real property tax revenue of approximately 13% and 11%, respectively, amounting to approximately $9 8 million and 53 5 million, respectively, and a decrease in expenditures for Kauai, excluding general fund debt service, of approximately 7% amounting to approximately $3.2 million The repo of net bonded debt to assessed values compares the debt of the County with its taxing power and the ratio of annual debt service to total general government expenditures depicts the share of total expenditures used on debt service. Generally in both cases, a lower percentage is preferable. The following two tables compare the County of Hawaii with the other three counties Redo or mr aond~d was ro asa.sred vita.: (%.ys?. tlawall tloaoWlu MaW Kawl 2000 1 81 N/A 1 55 090 1999 1 31 1 28 158 054 1998 1 32 1 07 153 053 1997 1 37 1 01 1 24 0 57 1996 1 28 1 32 1 24 0 62 Raflo orAnnw/ Dent Srvks ro (ienaral Govnrimenr Expendlruns (96.pea) tlmiull ttOaGlwY Paul lSOYiI 2000 10 5 NIA 13 2 4 B 1988 97 185 122 48 1998 8 9 21 4 10 8 4 1 1997 B9 203 107 42 1996 8 1 19 5 10 1 N/A