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City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 2 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
A MESSAGE FROM THE CITY MANAGER
Dear City Residents,
We are pleased to present the City of Bowling Green’s eleventh Popular Annual
Financial Report (PAFR) for the 2021 Fiscal Year.
This report is intended to present a condensed overview of the City’s financial
position, financial practices, and details outlining how City revenues were generated
and spent. Financial information in this report is derived from the independently
audited financial statements that are a part of the City of Bowling Green’s Annual
Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the year ended June 30, 2021.
We are proud to report that the City has been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in
Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association the past 15 years and the Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financing Reporting for the last 10 years.
A special thank you goes out to the dedicated men and women of the City’s Finance Department whose
hard work and diligence made this possible.
As you review this Popular Annual
Financial Report, please feel free to
share any questions, concerns or
recommendations you may have with
us.
Respectfully,
Jeffery B. Meisel
City Manager
Introduction
CONTENTS
Introduction .................................... 2
About this Report ........................... 3
About the City ................................ 4
Financials:
Government-wide
Revenues and Expenses ............... 5
Net Position ................................... 6
General Fund ................................ 7
Debt and Capital Assets ................. 8
Benchmarks ................................... 9
Bowling Green by the Numbers ..... 10
Bowling Green—Did you know? ..... 11
“As a city government, we strive to provide the best city services
at the lowest appropriate cost, to adequately maintain and
invest in public infrastructure, to compete economically on a
global and national stage, and to seek to improve the quality of
life for all residents in the City of Bowling Green.”
- Jeffery Meisel, City Manager
Photo Credit: Jason T Reagan
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 3 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
About this Report
POPULAR ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
The Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) is intended to brief the
residents of the City of Bowling Green on the financial standing of the City.
The PAFR also highlights FY2022 budgetary initiatives to show the City’s
planned investments for the upcoming year. The information reflected in
this report was drawn from the 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report (ACFR). The ACFR conforms to the generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP) and includes audited financial statements.
Component unit information related to
Bowling Green Municipal Utilities is
not disclosed within this Popular
Annual Financial Report. For more
detailed information and copies of the
ACFR and past PAFR reports, visit
the City’s website at www.bgky.org.
GOVERNMENT FINANCE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and
Canada (GFOA) has given an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular
Financial Reporting to the City of Bowling Green for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2020. The Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual
Financial Reporting is a prestigious national award recognizing the City’s
conformance with the highest standards for preparation of state and local
government popular reports. This is the tenth consecutive year the City has
received the award.
In order to receive an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual
Financial Reporting, a government must publish a Popular Annual Financial
Report, whose contents conform to program standards of creativity,
presentation, understandability and reader appeal. An Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Popular Financial Reporting is only valid for a period of one
year.
We believe our current report continues to conform to the Popular Annual
Financial Reporting requirements, and we are submitting it to the GFOA.
The City also received the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award
for the FY2020 ACFR for the fifteenth consecutive year and the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award
for the FY2022 budget for the tenth consecutive year.
Photo Credit: Jason T Reagan
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 4 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
About the City
PROFILE OF BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green, the “Park City” of Kentucky, was established in 1798,
and is the third largest city in the Commonwealth with a metropolitan
statistical area population of over 179,240. The City limits occupy a
land area of over 41.6 square miles, has a current population
estimated at over 72,294 and serves as the retail, educational,
medical, commercial, and social hub for South-Central Kentucky and
Northern Tennessee. The broader workforce, which measures employable workers that are 18 years and older, is
measured at approximately 750,000 for the area encompassing a hundred mile radius from the City.
Bowling Green is home to several significant companies including the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant, Fruit
of the Loom, Houchens Industries, Holley Performance Products and Camping World. The State’s third largest public
university, Western Kentucky University, is also situated in Bowling Green and has approximately 17,500 students in a
wide range of academic programs. The University’s athletic teams are dubbed the “Hilltoppers.”
The City provides a full range of municipal services, including police and fire protection, permitting and inspection
services, construction and maintenance of streets and other infrastructure, recreational activities and cultural events,
and general administrative services. The City’s workforce as of June 30, 2021, was comprised of 488 authorized full-
time positions and up to 306 part-time positions.
Bowling Green continues to be recognized statewide and nationally on many occasions. Recent accolades include
being named in 2020 as one of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in America and also as the Best Place to Live in
Kentucky by Livability.com. As of 2019, Forbes has given the rankings for Bowling Green of #70 for “Best Small Places
for Business and Careers”, #70 in Cost of Doing Business, #49 in Job Growth and #110 in Education. The Chamber of
Commerce ranked Bowling Green as 42nd in the nation for Best Small Cities for Business in 2020. Additionally, the
Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce was again recognized by Site Selection magazine as the #1 Performing
Economic Development organization with a population of 200,000 or less in 2020. Using the same population
parameters, Site Selection also ranked Bowling Green 6th in the nation for attracting corporate facility investments. In
2021, three popular Bowling Green travel attractions were awarded prestigious Traverse Awards for Excellence in
Tourism and Marketing from the Kentucky Travel Industry Association: the Historic RailPark & Train Museum earned
two Silver awards, the National Corvette Museum earned three Bronze awards, and the Bowling Green Area
Convention & Visitors Bureau earned a Bronze award.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
The City operates under the City Manager form of government. The City Manager, who is appointed by the Board of
Commissioners (Board), is responsible for enforcing City ordinances and policies, and for carrying out day-to-day
operations. The Board consists of a Mayor, who is elected for a term of four years, and four non-partisan
Commissioners who are chosen on a plurality-at-large voting basis for two-year terms. The Board is responsible for
passing ordinances and taxation, adopting the budget, appointing committees relating to specific aspects of municipal
affairs and ratifying personnel appointments/promotions as recommended by the City Manager.
Todd Alcott, Mayor Carlos Bailey, Commissioner Dana Beasley-Brown,
Commissioner
Melinda Hill, Commissioner Sue Parrigin, Commissioner
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 5 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Government-wide Financials
The information on the following two pages provides a short-term view of the City’s governmental operations, illustrates
how services are financed, and how the balances remaining at year end are available for future spending. Component
unit financial information is not disclosed.
GOVERNMENTAL REVENUES & EXPENSES (Excludes Business-Type)
$118,227,000
Annual Revenue
15.9%
$57,556,000
Wages and Net Profits
5.4%
$16,974,000
Property Taxes
7.4%
$4,887,000
Insurance Premium Taxes
4.7%
The City’s major revenues during FY2021 are up when compared to the prior fiscal years.
Wages and net profits grew by $2.9M due to continued growth in the population and
economic base resulting from various expansions and new projects within the region.
Property taxes continued to grow, at a rate of 7.4%, or by $1.2M, from rising
assessments and continued construction of single and multi-family housing units.
Insurance premium taxes increased by $220,000 due to a greater number of policies
written and collected in correlation to the population increases the City is experiencing.
Government-wide expenses have increased during the three prior years, particularly in
FY2020 which continued in FY2021.
Parks and Recreation expenses grew by $2.9M, or +59.6%, as a result of one-time
capital projects at CrossWinds Golf Course, Russell Sims Aquatics Center, and at
various parks.
Neighborhood & Community Services expenses increased by $3.1M, or +48.1%, due
in part to the BG CARES Small Business Grant Program that distributed over $2.4M
to local small businesses.
Interest expense also grew substantially, by over $9.0M, from costs incurred related
to the new debt issuance for the Kentucky Transpark expansion.
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 6 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Government-wide Financials
Governmental activities represent activities financed primarily through taxes and intergovernmental revenues. These
activities include governmental and internal service funds. The Business-type activities are financed in-whole or in-part
by fees charged to external parties for goods and services. These activities are reported in the Convention Center
enterprise fund and are not reflected in the numbers presented below.
STATEMENT OF NET POSITION
The statement of Net Position represents the City’s assets and liabilities, deferred outflows and deferred inflows, and the
resulting net position. Net position is the difference between what the City owns and what the City owes. A positive net
position balance indicates a measure of financial stability. The City’s total governmental net position increased from
$187.3M in FY2020 to $194.0M in FY2021, an increase of $6.7M, or +3.6%.
AVAILABLE
FOR
FUTURE
WHAT THE
CITY
OWES
WHAT THE
CITY
OWNS - =
Assets + Deferred Outflows
$454.2M
Liabilities + Deferred Inflows
$260.2M
Net Position
$194.0M
The City’s governmental net position, excluding business-type activity, has grown $14.6M since FY2019. The
growth in net position is principally due to increasing assets resulting from the investment in capital assets and
increased cash and investment holdings. Overall, liability totals have also increased due to rising pension and other
postemployment employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities, but primarily as a result of $43.8M of new general obligation
debt issued for the expansion of the Kentucky Transpark in FY2021.
* The City implemented GASB Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, effective for the period ending June 30, 2021, which resulted in a positive
restatement of the FY2020 ending balances in the amount of $275,000.
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 7 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Governmental Financials
GENERAL FUND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
The General Fund serves as the chief operating fund of the City. The General
Fund total fund balance at June 30, 2021 was $29.1M, or 36.5% of revenues.
The FY2021 ending total fund balance decreased $4.5M, or -13.5%, from the
FY2020 restated*** fund balance of $33.9M. The decrease is principally a
result of increased transfers out to other funds, mentioned above, in addition to
one-time spending for the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also, in FY2021 the committed fund balance, which is 25% of adopted General
Fund revenues, totaled $16.7M compared to $18.1M in FY2020. The decrease
is the result of declining adopted revenue budget figures for FY2021 compared
to FY2020 to reflect a conservative budget estimate during the pandemic.
The fund balance summary for the prior three years is presented above.
FUND BALANCE
DEFINITIONS
The General Fund is the chief operating fund of the City and is comprised of five fund balances:
Non-spendable**— Amounts that are not in a spendable form or are required to be maintained intact.
Restricted**— Amounts
constrained to specific purposes by their providers (such as grantors, bondholders and higher levels of government), through constitutional provisions or enabling legislation.
Committed— Amounts constrained to specific purposes by the City itself, this includes the 25% reserve ‘rainy day’ balance.
Assigned— Amounts the City intends to use for a specific purpose (such as encumbrances).
Unassigned— Amounts that are
available for any purpose; positive amounts are reported only in the General Fund.
**The non-spendable fund balance was $293,526, $298,345, and $286,536 for FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021, respectively. The restricted fund balance was $0, $67,000, and $0 for FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021, respectively.
*** The City implemented GASB Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, effective for the period
ending June 30, 2021, which resulted in a positive restatement of the FY2020 General Fund ending
balances in the amount of $275,000.
* Other Financing Uses (net of Other Financing Sources) consists primarily of $27,675,090 in transfers to other funds in FY2021.
Percentage of Revenue and Expenditure by Category
General Fund revenues increased by over $1.0M, or 1.3%, over last fiscal year and total expenditures also increased, by
$11.5M or 15.7%. The substantial increase was due to transfers to other funds that will prefund future capital projects.
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 8 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Debt and Capital Assets
In January 2021, Moody’s Investors Service assigned Aa1 rating to the City’s $43.8 million General Obligation
Bonds, Series 2021A and Series 2021B and also upgraded the City’s credit rating to Aa1 from Aa2 for existing
general obligation bonds. This is the second highest rating and signifies that the City’s debt is of high quality, subject to
low credit risk, and allows the City to borrow at lower interest rates which saves taxpayers dollars.
The total governmental long-term debt outstanding at June 30, 2021, was $100.0M, net of discounts and premiums.
Below is a 10 year graphical illustration of the City’s total governmental long-term debt, net of discounts and premiums.
Long-term debt has decreased by $22.7M, or 18.5%, since 2012. In FY2021, the City issued general obligation debt
for the first time since 2008; over $43.8M was financed to fund property acquisition and infrastructure costs associated
with the expansion of the Kentucky Transpark. Even with the addition of new debt, the FY2021 outstanding debt total of
$100.0M is still considerably less than $122.7M reported in FY2012.
The City of Bowling Green uses capital assets to
provide vital services and enhance the quality of
life of its residents. This includes infrastructure
network of roads, sidewalks, and storm drainage
in addition to land, buildings, and equipment.
The City’s governmental net investment in
capital assets at June 30, 2021, excluding
business–type assets, increased by $1.7M over
last year to $231.9M.
Major additions during FY2021 include:
Police evidence storage facility construction
Lampkin Park futsal court construction
Roland Bland all-inclusive playground
Moss Middle School greenway connector
Various equipment and vehicle replacements
Replacement of 22 bunkers at CrossWinds
Golf Course
(In Millions)
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 9 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Benchmarks
HOW WE COMPARE
Below, Bowling Green is compared to Owensboro, Kentucky, and Franklin, Tennessee. Per Capita is defined as the total
dollar value divided by the population of each city. For example, Debt per Capita is the total bonded indebtedness
divided by the population. This calculation allows the debt of each city to be easily compared based on population.
GENERAL COMPARISONS
Bowling Green1 Owensboro, KY2 Franklin, TN3
Population 72,294 60,131 70,908
Total taxable assessed real estate value $5,775,431,044 $3,347,793,626 $4,994,739,0504
Real estate tax rate5 $0.2050 $0.2660 $0.4176
Land area (square miles) 41.6 20.9 43.00
Unemployment rate6 3.5% 3.7% 3.0%
General Fund revenues $79,734,667 $59,846,976 $69,956,580
Total governmental funds—revenue per
capita
$1,578 $1,288 $1,791
Total governmental funds—expenditure
per capita
$1,413 $1,233 $1,812
DEBT COMPARISONS
Bowling Green Owensboro, KY Franklin, TN
Total outstanding debt—primary
government
$100,033,786 $146,732,417 $245,634,639
Debt per capita $1,384 $2,440 $3,464
Net general obligation debt as a
percentage of assessed taxable real estate
1.73% 4.38% 4.92%
BOND RATINGS COMPARISONS
Bowling Green Owensboro, KY Franklin, TN
Standard & Poor’s (high to low: AAA, AA+, AA, AA-) AA AA AAA
Moody’s (high to low: Aaa, Aa1, Aa2, Aa3, A1) Aa1 A1 Aaa
1 FY2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
2 FY2020 ACFR (year ended June 30, 2020).
3 FY2020 ACFR (year ended June 30, 2020).
4 Real Property Assessment value obtained from
Statistical Table “Revenue Capacity Information –
Assessed Value and Estimated Actual Value of Taxable
Property”.
5 Real Estate Tax Rates are per $100 of assessed value.
6 Source: US Dept. of Labor, Local Area Unemployment
Statistics for Cities and Towns Above 25,000 Population
(preliminary rates for September 2021).
Photo Credit: Teresa Morel
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 10 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
72,294
POPULATION
3rd
LARGEST CITY
IN THE STATE
41.6
SQUARE MILES
481
STAFFED FULL
TIME EMPLOYEES
1,929
JOB APPLICANTS
70,235
POLICE CALLS
FOR SERVICE
3,074
POLICE TRAFFIC
STOPS
5,375
FIRE INCIDENT
RESPONSES
97
ARSON FIRES
INVESTIGATED
4,686
FEET OF
SIDEWALK
REPLACED
2,460
BUILDING &
ELECTRICAL
PERMITS ISSUED
22,608
PROPERTY TAX
BILLS DISTRIBUTED
222
POTHOLES
REPAIRED
1,654
ANIMAL
CONTROL CALLS
10,199
BUILDING, CODE,
AND ELECTRICAL
INSPECTIONS
133,303
ROUNDS OF GOLF
PLAYED AT CITY
GOLF COURSES
11,884
TREES, PLANTS,
AND SHRUBS
PLANTED
Photo Credit: Anne Massey
City of Bowling Green by the Numbers
Source: City of Bowling Green FY2021 ACFR Statistical Section
City of Bowling Green, Kentucky 11 Popular Annual Financial Report FY2021
Bowling Green—Did you know?
Fiscal Year 2022 Capital Improvement Plan Overview
Median
Age
27
Median
Income
$42,216
School
Enrollment
22,725
Median
Gross Rent
$778
Unemployment Rate
4.9%
Foreign Born Persons
12.8%
Owner-Occupied Housing Unit Rate
(2015-2019)
38.8%
Average Household Size
2.38
Median Value of Owner-Occupied
Housing Units (2015-2019)
$161,000
Mean Travel Time to Work
(minutes)
18.1
Number of Households
25,305
Bachelor’s Degree or Higher
32.6%
Sources: City of Bowling Green FY2021 ACFR Statistical Section and US Census QuickFacts for Bowling Green, Kentucky
POPULAR ANNUAL
FINANCIAL REPORT
For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2021