Cottage Grove staff outline audit catch-up and plan for balanced April budget

City Manager Sauerwein told the Cottage Grove City Council the city has hired an independent CPA as interim finance director and a second CPA to catch up outstanding annual audits, and staff now expect to be “caught up on our annual audits by the end of next year.”

Sauerwein said the budget process timeline has been moved up by roughly a month so the council will receive a proposed, balanced budget in April and have over a month to review it before final adoption. “Everything is getting put on the table, and we will be presenting you with a balanced budget,” he said.

Councilors welcomed the extra staffing and the interim CPA’s work but urged more frequent, clear updates. Councilor Evan asked staff to provide interim audited-like guidance because the city will be “without an audited number going into the 2026 budget,” and requested that staff walk the council through the final steps Eisler took in 2023 to reconcile numbers.

Interim finance staff (identified in the meeting as Eric) met individually with council members to explain the numbers, and Sauerwein said staff will add a community budget town hall and additional council review time to the schedule to increase transparency and opportunity for input.

Sauerwein and councilors framed the steps as both a response to past problems and a preventative measure: hiring outside CPAs, revising policies and procedures, and educating council and budget committee members so they can better spot fiscal anomalies. Sauerwein emphasized the work will be thorough rather than rushed: “If we’ve learned one thing, it’s that we need to take our time and be as thorough as possible.”

Next steps: staff will present budget books and a preview at an early April council meeting, followed by the budget committee process and a council review period of roughly one month before final adoption.

(Reporting note: direct quotes and timetable come from the city manager’s presentation and council discussion.)