Reference no: EM13871521

Several years ago the citizens of Jefferson Heights approved a 1/ 4 percent increase in the sales tax dedicated to law enforcement. The legislation provided that a Law Enforcement Special Revenue Fund (SRF) be established to account for the collection and disbursement of the tax resources. In addition, the legislation specifically included a provision that prohibited any other use of these funds. The chief financial officer (CFO) of Jefferson Heights discovered that the General Fund does not have enough resources to meet the final payroll of the fiscal year. At a staff meeting, the CFO suggested that the SRF loan resources to the General Fund until the General Fund could repay the loan. The county attorney said that, based on the wording of the law, such a loan probably would be illegal. After the meeting broke up, the mayor told the CFO to ignore the county attorney because all the Special Revenue Funds are nonmajor and, when combined for financial reporting purposes, the loan would not show up in the basic financial statements as having come from the Law Enforcement SRF. How would you advise the CFO? Explain.