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Audit committee reports clean external opinion and identifies process improvements across sanitation, wastewater and pothole programs
Summary
External auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on Garland’s 9/30/2024 financial statements and single audit; the audit committee summarized internal audit findings on commercial sanitation services, municipal wastewater treatment agreements, and pothole/major patch repair processes and recommended improvements.
The Garland City Council’s audit committee presented multiple audit findings at the April 14 work session. The external auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city’s September 30, 2024 financial statements and on major federal programs in the single audit; internal audit reports identified operational improvements for commercial sanitation, municipal wastewater treatment agreements and the pothole/major patch program.
External audit: the external audit partner reported an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and unmodified single‑audit opinions on the city’s major federal programs (including CDBG, ARPA‑related testing and the Housing Choice Voucher program). The auditors reported no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting.
Internal audit highlights: the internal audit staff and committee summarized four audits completed since March 2023:
- Sanitation commercial services: auditors found the division doubled revenue over seven years and generally complies with agreements, but recommended improvements in driver safety incident review, economic‑development agreement tracking, container cost allocation, discount accuracy, deposit practices and billing frequency documentation. Management concurred and is implementing changes.
- Municipal wastewater treatment agreements: Garland treats wastewater under long‑standing contracts with several neighboring jurisdictions. Auditors recommended formalizing meter and inflow measurement approaches (for example, installing meters where only a dated flow study exists), enforcing late‑payment penalties where contract language allows, documenting methods used when meters are inoperable, and standardizing industrial pretreatment compliance reporting. Auditors identified occasions when biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) tests exceeded contractual thresholds but surcharges were not assessed.
- Pothole and major patch repair program: audit found the department’s work‑order and asset management system (Cartograph) is underused; repairs are reactive (citizen‑report driven) rather than systematically identified, and recordkeeping for tonnage/measurements was inconsistent. Auditors recommended fuller use of the work‑order system, improved measurement practices and clearer procedures for vendor payments and access controls.
Committee and next steps: management generally agreed with recommendations and is working on implementation (removing some system exemptions for late‑payment fees, pursuing meter calibration information from Dallas, training staff on work‑order system use and standardizing reporting). The audit committee said reports would be posted online and invited councilors to request follow‑up briefings.
Ending: the audit committee noted the city’s strong audit opinion and urged timely implementation of the internal audit recommendations to reduce operational risk and improve cost recovery.
