In 2018, a city opens a municipal landfill, which it will account for in an enterprise fund. It estimates capacity to be 6 million cubic feet and usable life to be 20 years. To close the landfill, the municipality expects to incur labor, material, and equipment costs of $3 million. Thereafter, it expects to incur an additional $7 million of costs to monitor and maintain the site.
1. In 2018, the city uses 300,000 feet of the landfill. Prepare the journal entry to record the expense for closure and post closure costs.
2. In 2019, it again uses 300,000 feet of the landfill. It revises its estimate of available volume to 5.8 million cubic feet, and re-estimates closure and post-closure costs at $10.2 million. Prepare the journal entry to record the expense for closure and post-closure costs.
3. In 2037, the final year of operation, it uses 350,000 feet of the landfill. The actual capacity has proven to be only 5 million cubic feet, and closing costs are now estimated to be $15 million. Through the year 2033, the municipality had used 4,650,000 cubic feet and recorded $14.2 million in closure and post-closure costs. In 2034, it actually incurs $5 million in closure costs, the entire amount of which is paid in cash.
a. Prepare the journal entry to record the expense for closure and post-closure cost.
b. Prepare the journal entry to record the actual closure costs paid.
4. Suppose instead that the landfill was accounted for in the government's general fund. Indicate how the entries would differ from those in the enterprise fund.