Councilors frustrated by third consecutive late audit

Mayor cites pandemic and a high vacancy rate in the Finance Dept. as reasons for tardiness

Santa Fe city councilors reacted to news of a third consecutive tardy fiscal year audit with frustration and incredulity, with one questioning why councilors weren’t notified about the issue until minutes before the Wednesday deadline and another dubious the problem will be fixed by next year.

City Councilor Michael Garcia, who has raised concerns over the city’s string of tardy audits, said city staff members indicated to him the 2021 fiscal year audit would be submitted to the state by the Dec. 15 deadline.

He said he was caught off guard by the notification, sent at 4:52 p.m. through an email from City Manager Jarel LaPan Hill. The city issued a news release about 25 minutes later.

Garcia said he plans to write a letter to LaPan Hill to request an update in front of the City Council about the status of the 2021 audit and the 2022 audit.

“When you are conducting a major audit like this, and you know it’s going to be late, and for us to wait until the 5 p.m. deadline to notify the governing body, is irresponsible,” he said.

Mayor Alan Webber said he was unsure of when councilors were notified but said city Finance Department Director Mary McCoy has informed him the city is making steady progress on many of the fixes that are believed to be needed in order to get the city’s audits on the right track.

“We are making improvements in the way we do things,” Webber said, adding the city has struggled with “speed bumps” that include the pandemic and a high vacancy rate in the Finance Department.

In its Wednesday news release, the city pointed to the late 2020 audit as one of the reasons for the delay but added it plans to submit a trial balance to external auditors by March 31, with a financial statement to the State Auditor’s Office no later than June 30.

After missing the fiscal year 2020 deadline, Webber and State Auditor Brian Colón agreed to complete the audit by June 30. But in June, the city announced it needed an additional 60 days. The audit was ultimately submitted in September.

An external audit reported 10 significant deficiencies and eight material weaknesses. Timeliness surrounding the audit was among the issues in the findings.

The city announced a “corrective action plan” to submit the fiscal year 2021 audit and complete the fiscal year 2022 audit on time.

Outgoing City Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler, who spent her mayoral campaign jabbing Webber over the city’s string of tardy submissions, said she expected the audit to be late again because the city has failed to correct any of the underlying issues that caused the previous late audits.

“You do not produce late audits, and if you do, there really better be a good reason for it,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a year late. We just turned in the audit for the year before, and we are late again. It really is a big, big, symptom of what is lacking in this administration.”

Vigil Coppler said no other city in New Mexico has had the same issues during the pandemic.

“When you have the same people from the mayor on down saying the same things year after year, nothing really will change,” she said,

adding, “It’s like that saying: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Councilor Chris Rivera said he was concerned the city would be faced with the same questions when the next audit is due.

He said he wasn’t confident these issues would be fixed in a year.

“I thought they would have done them after the first time we were late,” he said. “I am not confident that you won’t be talking to me again with the same questions next year.”

Webber said the key question is whether the city has the resources and technical knowledge to hit its goal.

Last week, the council approved a series of budget adjustments to fund a number of additional positions in the Finance Department, part of a push to improve its capacity.

Webber added the city’s audits, while late for four of the past five years, have been strong.

“Last year had a good audit, with good financial results, he said. “It was late, but the audit itself was a clean audit, and the city’s financial position is strong and stable. That, to me, is what the public needs to be confident in.”

But Garcia called the string of late audits a “critical concern” and said he was worried the late audits would give the state a reason to become more involved with the city’s finances. Rivera voiced similar worries. “I don’t want to get to the point where the state is starting to take the finance piece a little bit on their own,” he said. “I don’t want to see anything like that.”

“You do not produce late audits, and if you do, there really better be a good reason for it. It doesn’t have to be a year late. We just turned in the audit for the year before, and we are late again. It really is a big, big, symptom of what is lacking in this administration. ”City

Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler