Agenda - Council - 06/28/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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This statement will improve financial reporting primarily through enhanced note disclosures and schedules of RSI that will be presented by OPEB plans administered through trusts meeting the specified criteria. The new information will enhance the decision -usefulness of the financial reports of those OPEB plans, their value for assessing accountability, and their transparency by providing information about measures of net OPEB liabilities and explanations of how and why those liabilities changed from year-to-year. The net OPEB liability information, including ratios, will offer an up-to-date indication of the extent to which the total OPEB liability is covered by the fiduciary net position of the OPEB plan. The comparability of the reported information for similar types of OPEB plans will be improved by the changes related to the attribution method used to determine the total OPEB liability. The contribution schedule will provide measures to evaluate decisions related to the assessment of contribution rates in comparison with actuarially determined rates, if such rates are determined. In addition, new information about rates of return on OPEB plan investments will inform financial report users about the effects of market conditions on the OPEB plan's assets over time and provide information for users to assess the relative success of the OPEB plan's investment strategy and the relative contribution that investment earnings provide to the OPEB plan's ability to pay benefits to plan members when they come due. This statement is effective for financial statements for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2016. Earlier application is encouraged. GASB STATEMENT NO. 75, ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL REPORTING FOR POSTEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS OTHER THAN PENSIONS The primary objective of this statement is to improve accounting and financial reporting by state and local governments for post -employment benefits other than pensions (OPEB). It also improves information provided by state and local governmental employers about financial support for OPEB that is provided by other entities. This statement replaces the requirements of GASB Statement Nos. 45 and 57. GASB Statement No. 74 establishes new accounting and financial reporting requirements for OPEB plans. This statement establishes standards for recognizing and measuring liabilities, deferred outflows of resources, deferred inflows of resources, and expense/expenditures. For defined benefit OPEB, this statement identifies the methods and assumptions that are required to be used to project benefit payments, discount projected benefit payments to their actuarial present value, and attribute that present value to periods of employee service. Note disclosure and RSI requirements about defined benefit OPEB also are addressed. This statement is effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2017. Earlier application is encouraged. Similar to changes implemented for pensions, this statement requires the liability of employers and nonemployer contributing entities to employees for defined benefit OPEB (net OPEB liability) to be measured as the portion of the present value of projected benefit payments to be provided to current active and inactive employees that is attributed to those employees' past periods of service (total OPEB liability), less the amount of the OPEB plan's fiduciary net position. GASB STATEMENT NO. 77, TAX ABATEMENT DISCLOSURES This statement requires disclosure of tax abatement information about (1) a reporting government's own tax abatement agreements, and (2) those that are entered into by other governments and that reduce the reporting government's tax revenues. Tax abatements are widely used by state and local governments, particularly to encourage economic development. For financial reporting purposes, this statement defines a tax abatement as resulting from an agreement between a government and an individual or entity in which the government promises to forgo tax revenues and the individual or entity promises to subsequently take a specific action that contributes to economic development or otherwise benefits the government or its citizens. -20-