04-14-2008, 02:04 AM
FROM SUN-SENTINEL.COM
PEMBROKE PINES - The city is in good financial shape, according to a 165-page independent auditor's report.
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report also reveals that the city, on Sept. 30:
• Had $611,245,575 invested in various locations, such as banks and the state investment pool, earning various rates of interest;
• Had $25,505,905 socked away in reserves;
• Had $129,597,353 in the general employees' pension fund;
• Earned $33,013,690 in investments for the police and fire pension fund, a 148 percent increase over the $13,325,260 earned the previous year.
But the best reading comes in the last chapter, where it gives a host of interesting facts and figures.
Who were the largest taxpayers in the city for the year?
The largest was the Pembroke Lakes Mall, with property valued at $123,445,230. This was 1.2 percent of all assessments in the city. Second largest was rental apartment owner Pasadena Place Associates, with property valued at $106,640,950.
The next eight were Windsor at Pembroke Cay, an apartment complex; Prudential Insurance, which owns commercial property on Pines Boulevard; apartment owner Pembroke Cove; shopping center owner Westfork Tower; rental apartment owner Fairfield Pembroke Ltd.; Taplin Falls Ltd., also a rental complex; and shopping center owners WRI Flamingo Pines Ltd. and WRI Pembroke Ltd.
Who were the major employers during the year?
Memorial Health System, a public hospital district, was the top employer with 3,142 employees, or 35 percent of total city employment. Second was Pembroke Lakes Mall and all the businesses in it, with 2,248, or 25 percent.
Next, in order, were the city, with 1,875 employees; Wal-Mart, with 584; Target, with 208; World Ford with 205; Winn-Dixie, with 200; Cintas Corp., with 198; Claire's Corp. with 190; and Gator Freightways, with 174.
Other figures include the city's unemployment rate, which was 2.8 percent; school enrollment, 23,219; the taxable value of all property, which jumped from $5.1 billion in 1998 to $17.1 billion last year; and the city's total debt, $686,773,829, including $389,320,000 in principal.
The report shows 96.4 percent of city property owners paid their taxes, $47 million, on time. The balance of the $48.7 million assessed has yet to be paid.
For the past 22 years, the city's financial reports have received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the 17,000-member Government Finance Officers Association. Mayor Frank Ortis said the latest report should also be honored.
"It's another flawless audit and there weren't even recommendations of what has to be done for the next one," he said of the report by auditors TCBA Watson Rice LLP.
PEMBROKE PINES - The city is in good financial shape, according to a 165-page independent auditor's report.
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report also reveals that the city, on Sept. 30:
• Had $611,245,575 invested in various locations, such as banks and the state investment pool, earning various rates of interest;
• Had $25,505,905 socked away in reserves;
• Had $129,597,353 in the general employees' pension fund;
• Earned $33,013,690 in investments for the police and fire pension fund, a 148 percent increase over the $13,325,260 earned the previous year.
But the best reading comes in the last chapter, where it gives a host of interesting facts and figures.
Who were the largest taxpayers in the city for the year?
The largest was the Pembroke Lakes Mall, with property valued at $123,445,230. This was 1.2 percent of all assessments in the city. Second largest was rental apartment owner Pasadena Place Associates, with property valued at $106,640,950.
The next eight were Windsor at Pembroke Cay, an apartment complex; Prudential Insurance, which owns commercial property on Pines Boulevard; apartment owner Pembroke Cove; shopping center owner Westfork Tower; rental apartment owner Fairfield Pembroke Ltd.; Taplin Falls Ltd., also a rental complex; and shopping center owners WRI Flamingo Pines Ltd. and WRI Pembroke Ltd.
Who were the major employers during the year?
Memorial Health System, a public hospital district, was the top employer with 3,142 employees, or 35 percent of total city employment. Second was Pembroke Lakes Mall and all the businesses in it, with 2,248, or 25 percent.
Next, in order, were the city, with 1,875 employees; Wal-Mart, with 584; Target, with 208; World Ford with 205; Winn-Dixie, with 200; Cintas Corp., with 198; Claire's Corp. with 190; and Gator Freightways, with 174.
Other figures include the city's unemployment rate, which was 2.8 percent; school enrollment, 23,219; the taxable value of all property, which jumped from $5.1 billion in 1998 to $17.1 billion last year; and the city's total debt, $686,773,829, including $389,320,000 in principal.
The report shows 96.4 percent of city property owners paid their taxes, $47 million, on time. The balance of the $48.7 million assessed has yet to be paid.
For the past 22 years, the city's financial reports have received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the 17,000-member Government Finance Officers Association. Mayor Frank Ortis said the latest report should also be honored.
"It's another flawless audit and there weren't even recommendations of what has to be done for the next one," he said of the report by auditors TCBA Watson Rice LLP.