Fort Walton Beach — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, September 30, 2022 — reading text

Fort Walton Beach have been audited by Warren Averett, LLC, a firm of licensed certified public accountants. The goal of the independent audit was to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements of the City for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, are free of material misstatement. The independent audit involved examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements; assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management; and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. The independent auditor concluded, based upon the audit, that there was a reasonable basis for rendering an unmodified opinion that the City of Fort Walton Beach’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, are fairly presented in conformity with GAAP. The independent auditor’s report is presented in Section II - Financial Section as the first component of this section of the report. Generally accepted accounting principles require that management provide a narrative introduction, overview, and analysis to accompany the basic financial statements in the form of Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). This letter of transmittal is designed to complement MD&A and should be read in conjunction with it. The City of Fort Walton Beach’s MD&A can be found immediately following the report of the independent auditor. iv GOVERNMENT PROFILE DATE OF INCORPORATION: June 16, 1941 FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Council & Manager PAVED STREETS: 93.12 miles GEOGRAPHIC AREA: 7.60 square miles SIDEWALKS: 63.79 miles TAXABLE ASSESSED VALUE: $1,884,113,965 WATER & SEWER LINES: 283.96 miles CITY MILLAGE RATE: 4.9999 STORM DRAIN: 44.14 miles POPULATION: 21,206 (March 2022 Est) POLICE STATIONS: 1 FIRE STATIONS: 2 EMPLOYEES: 353 positions, 311.79 FTE’s LIBRARIES: 1 MUSEUMS: 4 SWORN POLICE OFFICERS: 54 18-HOLE GOLF COURSES: 2 FIREFIGHTING PERSONNEL: 44.25 ACRES OF PARKS: 448.54 (includes golf course) The City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida prides itself on being a small, family-oriented seaside community boasting a downtown area that was home to a significant prehistoric Native American community on the Gulf Coast of Northwest Florida. Situated at the junction of two major highways - US 98 (Miracle Strip Parkway) and SR 85 (Eglin Parkway) - Fort Walton Beach enjoys the benefits of its crossroads location along the coastal portion of the Northwest Florida regional transportation network. The City offers a full- service government providing police and fire protection; cultural and recreational activities including parks, a library, a museum, and two championship golf courses; planning and zoning; public works such as street, sidewalk, right-of-way, and cemetery maintenance; utility services including water, sewer, and stormwater; and garbage and recycling collection to a coastal community of 21,206 full-time residents. The City has an exciting and romantic history. As early as 600 B.C., Indian tribes were attracted to Fort Walton Beach from the Mississippi and Tennessee River Valleys and the Southeast Georgia coast. The beginning for the City occurred following the War Between the States when Alabama war veteran John Brooks selected a site of 111 acres where he built a three-room cabin in 1867. Other settlers soon followed. By 1884, the population of the area required establishment of a small schoolhouse. In 1902, the first hotel, Brooks House, was built along the sound and shortly thereafter the first post office was built in 1906. The Montgomery, Alabama, Maxwell Field military base First Schoolhouse developed an airfield in Fort Walton in 1933 on 137 acres of land and used it as a bombing and gunnery range. The most significant factor in the City's growth was the creation and later expansion, of that airfield, which is now Eglin Air Force Base (the largest military installation in the world) in 1937, the year the City Charter was adopted. Originally chartered as a municipality under the laws of the State of Florida, actual formation of the City was in 1941 when the Florida Legislature officially named it the Town of Fort Walton. In 1953, the Florida Legislature granted the City a new charter at which time the name was changed to Fort Walton Beach. The name Walton originates from Colonel George Walton, who was Secretary of the East-West Florida Territory in 1822-26 and son of George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Georgia. The presence of the military base provided the key economic stimulus for the City's early growth, supplemented by the attractiveness of the location. The City enjoyed a substantial population and economic boom from the 1950's through the end of the 1970's. Subsequently, things started to slow down. The military base became less important to the City's economy than the growing tourism industry. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Fort Walton Beach began to experience a decline in economic prosperity, some of which can be attributed to the utility and transportation infrastructure getting older and commercial and residential structures becoming deteriorated. New development began to take place in the surrounding communities. The City, having nearly run out of developable land, started to focus attention on finding ways to induce private enterprise investment in the City and thus capturing a greater share of the local and regional market. v The City’s premier gathering place along the Santa Rosa Sound has been the Landing Park since its purchase in 1986. The Landing Park renovations will commence in Spring 2023. Building upon that with the complete reconstruction of Brooks Street, including the Brooks Bridge Park in 2013, the City’s downtown waterfront was opened to an extent never realized and spurred economic growth downtown. Outside of downtown, the City completed construction of a new recreational complex in 2015 and a new field office complex in 2019, which has added to the attraction of the City. Fort Walton Beach Landing Rendering The financial reporting entity (the government) includes all the funds and account groups of the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as well as component units. Component units are legally separate entities for which the primary government is financially accountable. Accordingly, the Fort Walton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is reported as a blended component unit of the City of Fort Walton Beach. The budget process begins in January with the Finance Director and Budget Analyst developing five-year financial forecasts for the General and Enterprise Funds, including best, likely, and worst-case scenarios. Revenue assumptions are developed using financial forecasting software to analyze historical trends and account for any anticipated major economic or legislative changes. Revenue projections are continually updated until the budget is adopted to ensure the amounts are based on the most current information available. Expenditure assumptions are similarly developed in the forecast model considering relevant benchmark indices such as the municipal cost index, consumer price index, and producer price index. New programs and projects are also included to determine the future impact of current financial decisions. In March or April, the City Council, acting as the Legislative Body of the City holds at least one (1) Strategic Planning Session. The goals set during this meeting are used by staff to formulate the budget policy FISCAL FINANCIAL items that are presented to City Council in June and then utilized to YEAR FORECAST prepare the Budget. A Budget Policy Meeting is held with City BEGINS Oct 1 DEVELOPED Jan Council in June to determine Council’s priorities and position issues BUDGET specific to development of the operational and capital budgets for the BUDGET ADOPTION MEETING upcoming fiscal year. City Council’s decisions provide the framework Sep Jun under which the budget is prepared to meet City Council’s PUBLIC programmatic objectives within available fiscal resources projected BUDGET DEPARTMENT MEETINGS WORKSHOPS in the five-year forecasts. The meeting is open to the public and the Aug BUDGET COMMITTEE May/Jun public is encouraged to attend and participate. REVIEW Jun/Jul Department Directors are responsible for identifying their staffing needs, operational funding needs within budget development parameters, five-year capital requests, as well as corresponding revenue sources to fund their needs. In addition, they must conduct a comprehensive review of departmental goals, objectives, and metrics. vi  The City Charter charges the City Manager with the duty of presenting a balanced budget to City Council. To accomplish this goal, a Budget Committee is formed comprised of the City Manager, Finance Director, and Budget Analyst. The Committee conducts comprehensive meetings with Department Directors to review their budget requests and a collaborative effort is undertaken to achieve City Council and department goals within fiscal constraints. The Budget Committee enlists assistance for areas of specialized interests, such as the Information Technology Manager for computer issues; the Administrative Services Director for employee benefits, personnel, and risk management issues; and the Fleet Supervisor for vehicle and equipment replacement schedules. Department goals, objectives, and metrics are also evaluated during budget development to determine the effectiveness of program activities and appropriate funding levels. After the departmental meetings, the Budget Committee finalizes the proposed budget given revenue projections, economic conditions, funding requirements, and City Council program priorities and issues previously identified in the budget process. Once a balanced budget is achieved, it is presented to City