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External audit clean; building-permit and revenue-recovery audits surface billing and system issues
Summary
Weaver auditors delivered an unmodified opinion on the city's financial statements. Internal audits found permit-fee underbilling (approx $1.4M) largely due to system-rate updates not applied, and revenue-recovery findings flagged system, vendor-audit, and process controls needing attention; management is correcting and negotiating the largest outstanding items.
The audit committee reported results from the city's external and internal audits, highlighting a clean opinion on the financial statements and several operational findings staff are addressing.
Sarah Dempsey of Weaver told the council the external financial statement and single-audit work resulted in an unmodified (clean) opinion. Internal audit and staff then summarized three department-level reviews. The Building Inspection and Permitting Process Audit found that during the review period the city assessed about $6.4 million in permit fees and issued roughly 18,000 permits; auditors said planned-review timeliness improved (residential reviews averaged 3.49 days, multifamily 3.59 days, and commercial ~13 days) but identified about $1.4 million in underbilled fees related to churches and government permits (much of that arose because a 2018 fee schedule update was not fully reflected in the permitting system). Staff reported about $270,000 corrected already and negotiations under way for remaining balances.
The Revenue Recovery audit highlighted strong EMS-collection performance (net EMS charges ~$17.3M with collections near $12M) but recommended additional vendor oversight (SOC 2 Type II reports), improved HIPAA training, and stronger invoice-to-lien reconciliation processes; auditors found some overcharges and administrative-fee misapplications that staff are correcting. The Firewheel Golf Course follow-up showed substantial implementation of previous recommendations including formalized policies, tighter inventory/financial controls, and termination of the membership program effective September 2026. Council praised auditors and staff and asked for posted reports and next steps; staff committed to updating the fee ordinance, improving permitting-system reporting, and continuing recovery efforts.
