City Controller Mary Lynn Wall told the Common Council on Nov. 4 that the Indiana State Board of Accounts issued a clean opinion on the city's 2024 financial statements, and the federal compliance audit identified procedural findings for which corrective action plans have been filed.

"In our opinion, the accompanying financial statement presents fairly in all material respects the respective financial position and results of operations of the city as of and for the year ended 12/31/2024," Wall said, adding that the city's general fund cash balance exceeded the 15% policy target.

Councilman Dabney and others framed the audit in the context of looming revenue losses. Dabney outlined several revenue pressures during a report on labor negotiations: declining riverboat revenues that once totaled as much as $20 million and recently fell to $8–9 million, and the sunset of a county local income tax (LIT) distribution that previously provided about $4.2 million annually to pay public safety salary increases. "Now the state has decided to sunset those LIT funds, and we will lose that $4.2 million used to fund those raises," Dabney said. He said the combination of lower riverboat receipts and the LIT sunset requires tradeoffs and complicates contract talks with police and fire.

Wall said the city's policy aim is to maintain about 15% of the current budget as unappropriated cash in major operating funds and that the general fund cash balance at 12/31/2024 exceeded that level. The federal compliance audit reviewed $3,544,301 in federal receipts across 24 grants; Wall said corrective action plans were submitted for procedural matters including vendor selection documentation and vendor eligibility verification for federally funded procurements.

Council members asked for clarity on fund balances and expressed thanks for the audit work while emphasizing the practical constraint that the city cannot rely on riverboat funds as an on‑demand backstop for unexpected expenses going forward.