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  <br />  <br />The City provides a variety of municipal services. These include a full-time police department, a volunteer <br />fire department, engineering services, street and park maintenance, building inspections, planning and <br />zoning, public improvements, general administrative services, and public water and sewer utilities in the <br />urban service areas. <br /> <br />The City adopts an annual budget for the General Fund, EDA Special Revenue Fund, and HRA Special <br />Revenue Fund. Legal level of control is at the function level. Department heads may transfer resources <br />within a department as they see fit. Transfers between functions, however, need special approval from the <br />City Council. <br /> <br />LOCAL ECONOMY <br /> <br />The City has an unemployment rate of 5.0% in comparison to the state average of 5.4%. Ramsey has an <br />employed labor force of 14,088. Anoka County, in which Ramsey is located, has an employed labor force <br />of 190,798 and an unemployment rate of 5.3%. <br /> <br />There are approximately 6,480 detached single-family homes and 1,902 multifamily units located within <br />the City. In addition, there were 96 single-family homes and 68 multifamily homes constructed in 2013. <br /> <br />The City has two major industrial districts containing multiple business parks with a combined capacity of <br />320 acres and 25 businesses. Currently both industrial parks are near capacity. In addition, the city is <br />actively developing a new city center known as The COR (Center of Ramsey). The development vision for <br />this 400 acre area located in the heart of Ramsey is for it to become the region’s center of retail, restaurants, <br />service and office space, outdoor entertainment and parks, community amenities and housing. <br /> <br /> <br />LONG-TERM FINANCIAL PLANNING <br /> <br />The City of Ramsey prepares a five year capital improvement plan in an attempt to anticipate major capital <br />expenditures in advance of the year in which they are budgeted. <br /> <br />The City has a policy to maintain unrestricted General Fund balance in an amount equal to 50% of the <br />following years adopted operating budget. This policy is designed to establish a fund balance at a level <br />which is sufficient to avoid issuing debt to meet current operating needs. <br /> <br /> <br />RELEVANT FINANCIAL POLICIES <br /> <br />The City has a comprehensive set of financial policies that provide the basic framework for the overall <br />fiscal management of the City. The City had no unusual occurrences affecting these policies. <br /> <br />For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, the City implemented Governmental Accounting Standards <br />Board (GASB) Statement No. 65, Items Previously Reported as Assets and Liabilities. GASB Statement <br />No. 65 identified specific items previously reported as assets that will now be classified as either deferred <br />outflows of resources or outflows (expenditures/expenses), and items previously reported as liabilities that <br />will now be reported as either deferred inflows of resources or inflows (revenues). <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />16