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Indian River County, Florida NOTES TOFINANCIAi. RTATFAIEI�a Year Ended September 30,1 y95 NOTE 1- SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Indian River County, Florida, (the "County") is a political subdivision of the State of Florida, created pursuant to Chapter 7 of the Florida Statutes. It is governed by an elected Board of County Commissioners (the "Board") which is governed by state statutes and regulations. In addition to the members of the Board, there are five elected Constitutional Officers, pursuant to Article 8, Section 1(d), of the Constitution of the State of Florida; Clerk of the Circuit Court, Property Appraiser. Sheriff. Supervisor of Elections, and Tax Collector. The Constitutional Officers maintain separate accounting records and budgets. The accompanying financial statements present the combined financial position of the various fund types and account groups, the combined results of operations of the various fund types, and the combined statement of cash flows of the proprietary fund types for the funds controlled by the Board, the County's Constitutional Officers and the County's component units. The Board funds a portion of, or in certain instances, all of the operating budgets of the County's Constitutional Officers. The payments by the Board to fund the operations of the Constitutional Officers are recorded as operating transfers out on the financial statements of the Board and as operating transfers in or charges for services on the financial statements of the Constitutional Officers. Accordingly, such amounts and the budget relating to those amounts have been eliminated in the accompanying combined financial statements. The accounting policies of the County conform to generally accepted accounting principles, as applicable to governments. The following is a summary of the more significant policies. A. Reporting Entity The concept underlying the definition of the reporting entity is that elected officials are accountable to their constituents for their actions. The reporting entity's financial statements should allow users to distinguish between the primary government (the County) and it's component units. However, some component units, because of the closeness of their relationships with the County, should be blended as though they are part of the County. Otherwise, most component units should be discretely presented. To accomplish this goal, the County's financial statements present the fund types and account groups of the County, including component units that have been blended, and provide an overview of the discretely presented component unit in a separate column. As required by generally accepted accounting principles, the financial reporting entity consists of (1) the primary government (the County), (2) organizations for which the County is financially accountable, and (3) other organizations for which the nature and significance of their relationship with the County are such that exclusion would cause the reporting entity's financial statements to be misleading or incomplete. The County is financially accountable if it appoints a voting majority of the organization's governing body and (a) it is able to impose its will on that organization or (b) there is a potential for the organization to provide specific 17