Leon Valley presents unaudited FY2025 results; council moves to negotiate new audit contract

Carol Gehring, the city's finance director, presented the monthly and year-end unaudited financial report for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025. She told council that, as of the unaudited close, the general fund had collected roughly 93% of budgeted revenues and expenditures were about 76% of budget. Gehring said ad valorem tax collections were about 2% lower year-to-date compared with the prior year and cautioned that some differences reflect timing and pending year-end accruals and invoices.

Gehring reviewed department-level variances: planning and zoning underspent after staff transitions and an unfinished comprehensive master-plan line-item (about $250,000), police and public-works vacancies reduced personnel expenditures, and water/sewer funds were affected by billing-cycle timing and a CDBG grant for a sewer-main project. She emphasized the numbers are unaudited and may change with year-end entries.

Later in the regular agenda, the audit selection committee recommended awarding a three-year external audit engagement to Armstrong Vaughn & Associates based on the RFQ scoring matrix. Council authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with Armstrong Vaughn (motion carried). Council discussion included the committee's scoring criteria and a request that the lead-partner assignment be changed as part of the transition.

The council did not vote to finalize the audit contract rates for all years during the meeting; the motion authorized negotiation and execution subject to manager negotiation.