Atwater City Council approves treasurer's unaudited report; finance director says audits are behind but staff are "catching up"

The Atwater City Council voted to approve the treasurer's unaudited financial report for the month ending Dec. 31, 2025, and received a verbal update from the finance director explaining why audits are delayed and how staff plan to catch up.

With no questions from council members, a motion to approve the unaudited report was made and recorded votes were in favor. Council earlier approved the special meeting minutes from Oct. 13, 2025, as part of routine business.

During the finance director's update, the director said the previous year's delayed audit caused the department to fall behind and that the office is "playing catch-up at this point." The director described progress toward narrowing the delay and said the goal is to be fully on time if current trends continue, characterizing the anticipated improvement verbally as "x minus three months." The director also stated that, because the prior audit finished late, the timeline for the current audit was compressed.

Council members asked whether the pattern of delays means audits will continue to be late; the finance director said the intention is to reduce the lag over time and return to an on-time schedule if the present rate of progress continues. No formal timeline or firm month-count was provided in the meeting record.

The council closed the public comment period with no speakers and adjourned the meeting at about 5:09 p.m.