City auditor details court cash-handling fixes; council presses for faster technology and budget clarity

Michelle Crawford, Aurora’s city auditor, gave the Budget Committee a second-quarter internal-audit update that covered engagement progress, a card-expense review, facilities project delivery, and an audit of Aurora Police body-worn camera compliance. Crawford said court-administration cash-handling recommendations had produced several implemented changes, including revised access controls to the cash area, consolidated change funds assigned to individual cashiers, and a switch to a triple-copy receipt book and a drop safe for detention receipts while systems are being updated.

Council members raised concerns that the receipt-book approach is outdated and asked why the city had not implemented an off-the-shelf cashiering system after council previously allocated funding for that purpose. Crawford and other staff said funds originally budgeted for the off-the-shelf solution were carried over into the capital-project fund and had been used for a jury assembly room renovation instead. They said additional integration costs and complexity with police records, prosecution and other modules increased projected costs well beyond the initial allocation.

Scott Newman, the city chief information officer, told the committee that Workday financials will go live the week after the meeting and that the city will implement a cashiering product called Teller as part of that transition. "To the best of my knowledge, there are no other known integrations from any other system that are coming into either Teller or to Workday at this point in time," Newman said, adding that Teller may be able to serve receiving needs across departments but that specific court-related receiving functionality was not in the immediate go-live scope.

Council members pressed staff for clearer timelines and for more frequent updates because the audit findings touch internal controls and potential budget needs. Michelle Crawford said the court-related receiving solution is expected to be electronic and tied to the finance transition, and that more detailed updates will appear in the third-quarter audit report in October. Committee members requested interim updates in August and September so budget planners can consider any funding needs before the budget workshop.

No formal policy decision was taken at the meeting. The committee directed staff to provide more frequent updates on implementation status, including the Workday/Teller transition and the status of outstanding audit recommendations.