City of Port St . Lucie , Florida Community Redevelopment Agency Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended September 30 , 2021
NOTE 2 . STEWARDSHIP , COMPLIANCE , AND ACCOUNTABILITY ( CONTINUED )
B . FUND BALANCE / NET POSITION ( CONTINUED )
Assigned - fund balance amounts that are intended to be used for specific purposes that are neither considered restricted or committed . This indicates that resources in these funds are , at a minimum , intended to be used for the purposes of that fund . Fund balance may be assigned by CRA Board Resolution , by transfer to a special revenue or capital project fund as authorized by CRA Board , or an appropriation of existing fund balance to eliminate a projected budgetary deficit in the
Unassigned - unassigned fund balance may also include negative balances for any governmental fund if expenditures exceed amounts restricted , committed , or assigned for those specific purposes .
NOTE 3 .
CASH AND INVESTMENTS
The City operates using pooled cash and investments and cash balances from all funds ( including the CRA fund ), which are combined and invested to the extent available . Earnings are allocated monthly to each fund based on average daily balances of cash and investments .
A .
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
As of September 30 , 2021 , the CRA ' s cash and cash equivalents included deposits with financial institutions . Cash deposits are subject to custodial risk which is the risk that in the event of a bank failure , the CRA ' s deposits may not be returned . Deposits with financial institutions were entirely covered by federal deposit insurance and collateral pool pledged to the State Treasurer of Florida by financial institutions that comply with the requirement of Florida Statutes and have been designated as Qualified Public Depositories (" QPD ") by the State Treasurer of Florida . The Florida bank deposit insurance exists because Florida Statutes require state and local governmental units to only deposit monies with financial institutions classified as QPD . For a financial institution to qualify as QPD , it must participate in the state ' s deposit insurance pool that requires collateral to be deposited based on the financial institution ' s rating and the value of public funds it has on deposit . Upon default of any QPD , the pooled collateral is used to guarantee the state and local government deposits . This pool is additional insurance above the federal depository insurance . As of September 30 , 2021 , the CRA has bank deposits only with QPD institutions .
Cash , cash equivalents and investments held separately or where contractual arrangement or bond covenants require otherwise , are classified as " restricted assets ". When both restricted and unrestricted resources are available for use , it is the CRA ' s policy to use restricted resources first , then unrestricted resources as they are needed .
B .
INVESTMENTS
The City ' s investment policy applies to all investment activity , including that of the CRA , and shall include all available funds in excess of amounts needed to meet short-term expenses , but shall not apply to pension funds , trust funds , or funds related to the issuance of debt where there are other existing policies or indentures in effect . The policy objective is to invest funds in a manner with highest priority on preservation of principal and safety of liquidity with optimization of investment returns being secondary consideration . Treasury securities are the benchmark used for riskless investment transactions with a minimum standard for rate of return .
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