The City of Auburn has been found in full compliance by the Washington State Auditor’s Office for its 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).
CAFR is a required annual audit of accounting statements that summarizes the financial condition of a governmental entity and its financial activity throughout the year. Washington state law requires the yearly audit of municipality financial statements by the independently elected State Auditor.
Last year, the City received a minor finding related to new Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) requirements. The regulation requires that awards of federal grant money from cities to sub-recipients in amounts larger than $25,000 are required by the FFATA to be reported within 30 days of being granted. The City was marked for the untimely filing of one of these reports for Community Development Block Grants.
Upon discovery of this issue, the report in question was immediately brought up to date and additional procedures were put into place to ensure proper oversight and timely report filing. This year’s audit report confirms that the finding from 2014 has been fully corrected by the City.
“I’m very proud of our finance department and all of our staff for once again proving to our citizens that we take our job as stewards of the people’s money very seriously,” said Mayor Nancy Backus.
In its report, the Auditor’s Office stated, “At no time during the year were funds at risk for misappropriation or misuse, and there were no questioned costs. Nor did it have any impact on the financial statements for the City. The finding was merely an administrative oversight related to reports.”
The City also took additional steps in the last year to increase transparency of the City’s budget through a website, budget.auburnwa.gov, that allows the public to search through City records to see where and how money is being spent. Data regarding business licenses, permits and police reports is also available at the site.
In mid-November, the City Council adopted the final budget for the 2017-2018 biennium. A final copy of that budget will be available in early January. The budget and CAFR report can be found at auburnwa.gov/government/fiscal_reports.
