The Audit and Finance Committee of the Austin City Council voted on Oct. 15 to recommend the City Auditor's proposed calendar-year 2026 audit plan to the full council.

Deputy City Auditor Jason Adavi presented the plan, saying it includes 10 new audits, four alternate projects and six carryover projects from 2025. "The first section with the blue headers, the new audits, we have 10 new audits that cover a wide variety of topics," Adavi said.

Committee members focused on audits they said would affect how the city spends and staffs core services. Councilmember Walter asked that the civilian-staffing audit include not only a description of steps the city has taken but actionable recommendations. "If in your analysis you think there is a duty that other cities are doing ... you call those out and say these are opportunities for the city to engage in," Walter said. Adavi responded that the civilian-staffing audit would include city-to-city comparisons and recommendations where warranted.

Members also discussed an audit of alternate Fire/EMS response options, described as a review of recent EMS pilot practices such as single-staff basic-life-support (BLS) responses to lower-acuity calls. Adavi said the project will evaluate early results and identify practices other cities have used successfully.

Council members raised two other areas for future attention. One request asked the auditor's office to prioritize an aviation-department review of operational preparedness for high-traffic or controller-shortage events; Adavi said topics not selected for 2026 would be first in line for 2027 planning and that mid-year amendments are possible. Members also queried several IT-security items on the plan; Adavi said those objectives were intentionally broad and would be narrowed in the audit planning phase to focus on specific systems or risks.

Councilmember Petrucci moved to recommend the plan to the full council; Vice Chair Alter seconded. Without objection, the committee adopted the recommendation.

The plan lists two alternates that were carried forward from 2025 and six ongoing carryover projects, and staff noted the public-safety mental-health project will be issued as two separate reports. Adavi told the committee the office is mindful of current budget pressures and included more financial-oriented audits to assess efficiency and stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The committee chair indicated the audit plan will go to full council for final action.