Chapter 6 Transactions Affecting General Long-Term Liabilities and Debt Service

During fiscal year 2022, the voters of the City of Bingham approved the issuance of 2 percent tax-supported serial bonds in the face amount of $2,500,000 to construct a caf in city hall. The bonds are to mature in blocks of $125,000 every six months over a 10-year period commencing in 2024.

The City of Bingham created a Bond Debt Service Fund to be used to retire the bonds issued for the purposes described in Chapter 5 of this cumulative problem, and to pay the interest on the bonds. The $2,500,000 face value of bonds were issued on January 3, 2023 for $2,516,742. The effective interest rate on the bonds is 1.875% percent per annum. The first interest payment of $25,000 is due July 1, 2023. Subsequent semiannual interest payments will be made January 1 and July 1 of each following year until the maturity of the bond. Make entries as instructed in the following paragraphs.

Bond covenants related to this bond issue require the city to levy property taxes sufficient to make principal and interest payments until the bonds have been retired. The city council has approved a resolution to enable the property tax levy, beginning in fiscal year 2024. Until then transfers will be made from Binghams General Fund.

Prepare general journal entries, as necessary to record the following transactions in the debt service fund general journal and, if applicable, in the governmental activities general journal. Use account titles listed under the drop down [Account] menu. Be sure the year 2023 is selected from the dropdown [Year] menu and the appropriate paragraph number shown in bold-face font below is in the [Add description] box.

[Para. 6-a-1] From the data given about the City Hall Annex Construction Fund bond issue projected to be sold on January 3 at a premium of $16,742, city officials adopted a legal budget for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

Required: Record the budget for the Bingham Debt Service Fund for year 2023. Budgetary entries have no effect on the government-wide accounting records. The budget provides for estimated other financing sources for premiums on bonds of $16,742 and interfund transfers in from the General Fund of $20,000. Appropriations associated with the 2% bond provide for the bond interest payment on July 1 [.02 x 6/12 x $2,500,000].

[Para. 6-a-2] Cash in the amount of the $16,742 premium on the bonds sold on January 3, 2023 was received and recorded in the debt service fund.

Required: Record this transaction in the debt service fund. No entry is required at this time in the governmental activities general journal since the bond issue, including the related premium and accrued interest, was recorded in the governmental activities general journal in transaction 5-a-1.

[Para. 6-a-3] On July 1, the debt service fund received $20,000 from the General Fund for interest payment on the 2% serial bonds. Checks were written and mailed to bondholders for the interest payment due July 1, 2023.

Required: Record the transfer in the debt service fund and the interest payment in both the debt service fund and governmental activities journals. At the government-wide level, reduce the premium on bonds payable by $1406, the difference between the stated interest rate (.02 X 6/12 X $2,500,000) and the effective interest rate (.01875 X 6/12 X $2,516,742).

[Para. 6-a-4] Cash to close the City Hall Annex Construction Fund was received in the amount of $5,000. (See Chapter 5, para. 5-a-10). The city council authorized a budget amendment for this unexpected transfer.

Required: Record the budget amendment and transfer in the debt service fund. This transaction involves two governmental funds, thus it has no effect on the governmental activities general journal.

[Para. 6-a-5] At December 31, 2023, accrued interest expense on the 2% bond issue was recorded in the governmental activities general journal. Amortization of the premium on the 2% bonds sold was also recorded in the amount of $1,419.

Required: Record the accrual in the governmental activities journal.

Verify the accuracy of all your preceding journal entries in the debt service fund and governmental activities general journals, then click [Post entries]of each entity to post the entries to the respective general ledgers. For the debt service fund only, make the entries needed to close the budgetary and operating statement accounts at the end of fiscal year 2023 and post them to the funds general ledger. (Note: You must click on the box for [Closing Entry] to check mark it; Closing Entry checkbox appears next to the [Add credit] field for the account being closed. Be sure the checkmark is present for each account being closed.) Click [Post entries] to post the closing entry. Closing entries will be made in the governmental activities general journal in Chapter 9 of this cumulative problem. Ignore those entries for now.

Export the post-closing trial balance for year 2023 to an Excel worksheet and use Excel to prepare a balance sheet for the debt service fund as of December 31, 2023. (See Illustration 4-4 in the textbook for an example of an appropriate format of a governmental fund balance sheet.). In addition, print the post-closing trial balance from the [Reports] drop-down menu.

Export the pre-closing trial balance for year 2023 to an Excel worksheet and use Excel to prepare a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance for the Debt Service Fund for the year ended December 31, 2023. (See Illustration 4-5 in textbook for an example of the format of a statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance.) Print the pre-closing trial balance from the [Reports] drop-down menu.

Prepare in good form a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balancesbudget and actual for the Debt Service Fund for the year ended December 31, 2023. (See Illustration 4-6 in the textbook for an example format.)

Assuming that the assessed valuation of property within the City of Bingham is $ 650,200,500, and the legal general obligation debt limit is 2.5 percent of assessed valuation, compute the legal debt margin of the city as of December 31, 2023. Prepare a schedule in good form showing calculation of the legal debt limit, debt subject to the limit, and debt margin. There is no requirement stating what amount of the restricted fund balance must be dedicated to principal versus interest payment, so in this instance treat the entire amount of restricted fund balance as restricted for principal when performing your calculations. (See Illustration 6-3 for an example).

[Note: Retain all required printouts and your financial statements in your cumulative folder until directed by your instructor to submit them, unless your instructor prefers to have files submitted electronically, in which case you will need to save a .pdf version of your trial balance.]

Before closing the City of Bingham it is recommended that you save a backup copy of your work to another location by clicking on [File] and [Save As] for Windows and Mac.