Council presses staff on delayed financial and utility reports, seeks timeline and safeguards

Lago Vista councilmembers pressed city staff on March 6 over a months-long lapse in routine financial reporting and utility reports, demanding a timeline and steps to prevent future gaps.

At a work-session-style discussion, Councilmember Benfield said the city’s “most sacred responsibility” is stewardship of taxpayer dollars and asked five specific questions about causes, corrective actions, current status, timeline to catch up and staff accountability. Interim staff and the city manager described staffing turnover in finance, a merchant-processing change that complicated reconciliations, and resignation of the prior CFO. The city retained a finance consultant to help reconcile records and prepare unaudited fiscal-year-end statements.

What staff told council City staff said the unaudited end-of-year report (fiscal year ended September) was completed and undergoing final journal entries; they expected to post an unaudited report in the coming week and then accommodate the auditors’ schedule (auditors were reported to be available in late spring). Staff said reconciling historical revenue errors — primarily on the revenue side linked to the city’s merchant-processing implementation and data extraction — had been the primary delay. Staff described hiring and cross-training plans, creation of standard operating procedures (SOPs), and intent to improve month-end close timing (goal discussed: tighter month-end reporting cadence and potential 10-day close target once staffing is stable).

Council concerns and next steps Some members pressed for stronger governance tools if reporting slippage recurs, including earlier escalation triggers and requiring department heads to report to council when statutory or routine reports fall behind. One councilmember suggested withholding approval for new expenditures until the books are transparent; others argued the city must continue essential operations while improving reporting. Council asked the city manager to provide a firm timeline at the next regular council meeting for when monthly reports (including October–January and subsequent months) would be posted and to specify who is responsible for backfill if staff leave.

Budget and technical notes Staff said October–January monthly reports were in progress after correcting the accounting feeds. OpenGov integration and spreadsheet exports were cited as ongoing technical issues; staff said they would prioritize straightforward spreadsheet outputs if third-party systems remained a bottleneck. City staff also said some funds for consultant support were already budgeted, and the city will continue recruiting a finance director with relevant ERP and municipal accounting experience.

What residents should expect Council asked staff to publish brief status updates on the finance page so residents could see progress while staff completes reconciliations and posts unaudited year-end reports. Staff committed to provide an anticipated timeline at the next council meeting and to bring a remediation plan for regular monthly posting cadence.