FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   

Contact:    Bruce Loucks, Lee County Administration, (941) 335-2221 or
                Donna Harn, Clerk of Courts, 335-2300                       

LEE COUNTY WINS PRAISES FOR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 11, 2002) – Lee County Government and the Clerk of Courts Finance Department are being commended by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) as one of the first governments to issue financial statements that comply with new reporting requirements that give more information to taxpayers. 

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is the national independent, professional body that establishes standards of accounting and financial reporting for state and local governmental entities.  GASB standards are officially recognized as authoritative by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and by many laws and regulations that apply to state and local governments. 

GASB Statement No. 34 requires improvements in reporting cost-of-services information and the overall financial position of the government to taxpayers, governing boards, and other financial statement users.  One of its requirements includes valuing all of the county’s infrastructure, including roads, and depreciating it to show useful remaining life. 

Tom Allen, chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, recently wrote Lee Commission Chairman Bob Janes praising the county’s efforts. 

“I also want to commend you and the county’s governing body for supporting the efforts to provide your citizens and other financial statement users with a more comprehensive reporting of the county’s financial position in advance of the effective date of the standard,” Allen wrote. 

Final implementation of GASB No. 34 is not required until 2003. 

Allen singled out several people in the Clerk of Courts Finance Department and county budget operations for their outstanding effort. 

“Your early implementation is a tribute to your general accounting manager Terry Mallow; accountants III Michele Crowell, Sean O’Neill, Tracy Schatzman; debt analyst Marcia Simons; accountant II Cindy Uzzell; senior internal auditor Heidi Payne; budget director Tony Majul; budget services manager Sue Gilpin; capital projects program manager Beverly Dearborn; engineer Mike Carroll; and your auditors KPMG LLP, for their expertise and assistance to the county. 

To view the county’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, go to the Clerk of Courts web site at http://www.leeclerk.org/Finance.htm.