RubinBrown Public Sector Stats 2015

Executive Summary

The study includes results for municipalities in the Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas. The RubinBrown Public Sector Services Group has an extensive practice in each of the three metropolitan areas and is a national leader in providing accounting and auditing services to governments. All cities included in the data have populations greater than 5,000. Additionally, the cities of Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis are excluded from the study due to their size relative to the other municipalities. Finally, for purposes of this study, Denver consists of municipalities primarily in the Front Range region, metropolitan Kansas City includes municipalities in both Kansas and Missouri and metropolitan St. Louis includes municipalities in both Missouri and Illinois

Methodology Financial information was collected from the 2014 fiscal or calendar year Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), or from the 2014 audited financial statements if no CAFR was prepared. All municipalities included in the study prepare financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Key financial ratios were calculated in three categories: government- wide (governmental activities only), governmental funds and general fund information. Each participant in the survey received customized financial statistics to use as an analysis tool. This year, participation in all three regions remained consistent. A total of 31 Denver municipalities, 24 Kansas City municipalities and 41 St. Louis municipalities participated. Format of the Report The ratios are presented separately for the Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis regions. The average population of the cities included in the Denver region was 81,000. This compares to the average population of 46,000 for cities surveyed in the Kansas City region and 22,000 for those in the St. Louis region. For each ratio presented, the report presents information both by quartile, median and average. The computed values for each ratio were sorted from more favorable to less favorable and quartiles were determined. The quartile information is presented by displaying the ratio value that separates each quartile. For a description and interpretation of the ratios, please refer to the “Financial Ratio Interpretations” section of the report. The conclusions reached as to which results are more or less favorable are based upon what is most commonly accepted in the industry while taking into consideration what the majority of cities are likely to believe.

Participating Municipalities by Region

Denver Region Arvada Aurora

Kansas City Region Belton Blue Springs Gardner

St. Louis Region Alton, IL

Arnold Ballwin Brentwood Bridgeton Chesterfield Clayton

Boulder Brighton

Gladstone Grandview Harrisonville Independence Lawrence Leavenworth Leawood Lee’s Summit Lenexa Liberty

Broomfield Canon City Castle Rock Centennial

Collinsville Crestwood Creve Coeur Des Peres Edwardsville Ellisville Fairview Heights Fenton Ferguson Festus

Cherry Hills Village Colorado Springs Commerce City Englewood Erie Evans Golden Greeley Greenwood Village Lakewood Littleton Ft. Collins Fountain

Merrian Mission North K.C. Olathe

Overland Park Prairie Village

Florissant Glendale Hazelwood Kirkwood Ladue

Raymore Raytown

Lone Tree Longmont

Richmond Shawnee Warrensburg

Lake St. Louis Manchester Maplewood Maryland Heights O’Fallon Olivette Richmond Heights Rock Hill Saint John Shrewsbury St. Charles St. Peters Sunset Hills Town and Country University City Webster Groves Weldon Spring

Louisville Loveland Northglenn Parker Thorton Westminster Wheat Ridge Windsor

Wentzville Wildwood

RubinBrown Public Sector Stats 2015 | 1