athens tn acfr fy2021

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City of Athens, Tennessee 
Management's Discussion and Analysis 
June 30, 2021 
The statement of activities presents information showing how the government's net position changed during 
the most recent fiscal year. All changes in net position are reported as soon as the underlying event giving 
rise to the change occurs, regardless of the timing of related cash flows. Thus, revenues and expenses are 
reported in this statement for some items that will only result in cash flows in future fiscal periods (e.g., 
uncollected taxes and earned but unused vacation leave). 
Both of the government-wide financial statements distinguish functions of the City of Athens that are 
principally supported by taxes and intergovernmental revenues (governmental activities) from other 
functions that are intended to recover all or a significant portion of their costs through user fees and charges 
(business-type activities). The governmental activities of the City of Athens include general government, 
public safety, highways and streets, education, economic development, and culture and recreation. The 
business-type activities of the City of Athens include the Conference Center Fund and the Sanitation Fund. 
The government-wide financial statements include not only the City of Athens itself (which is the primary 
government) and the Athens Board of Education, but also the legally separate entity Athens Utilities Board. 
However, the Athens Housing Authority, the McMinn County Economic Development Authority, the E. G. 
Fisher Library, and the Athens Health and Educational Facilities Board are not legal entities of the City of 
Athens, and, accordingly are excluded from this report. 
The government-wide financial statements can be found on pages 4-5 of this report. 
Fund financial statements. A fund is a grouping of related accounts that is used to maintain control over 
resources that have been segregated for specific activities or objectives. The City of Athens, like other state 
and local governments, uses fund accounting to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance-related 
legal requirements. All of the funds of the City of Athens can be divided into three categories: 
governmental funds, proprietary funds, and fiduciary funds. 
Governmental funds. Governmental funds are used to account for essentially the same functions reported 
as governmental activities in the government-wide financial statements. However, unlike the government-
wide financial statements, governmental fund financial statements focus on near-term inflows and outflows 
of spendable resources, as well as on balances of spendable resources available at the end of the fiscal year. 
Such information may be useful in evaluating a government's near-term financing requirements. 
Because the focus of governmental funds is narrower than that of the government-wide financial statements, 
it is useful to compare the information presented for governmental funds with similar information presented 
for governmental activities in the government-wide financial statements. By doing so, readers may better 
understand the long-term impact of the government's near-term financing decisions. Both the governmental 
fund balance sheet and governmental fund statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund 
balances provide a reconciliation to facilitate this comparison between governmental funds and 
governmental activities. 
The City of Athens maintains ten individual governmental funds. Information is presented separately in the 
governmental fund balance sheet and in the governmental fund statement of revenues, expenditures, and 
changes in fund balances for the General Fund, the General Purpose School Fund, the Capital Improvement 
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