Audit Deemed "Clean," Indicates Improved Financial Position Over FY19

The Office of the State Auditor released the City of Santa Fe’s Fiscal Year 2020 audit on Monday, October 4, 2021. The Fiscal Year 2020 audit was performed by the outside independent auditor CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA). The financial statements noted that the City of Santa Fe improved its financial position at the end of Fiscal Year 2020 compared to the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Additionally, CLA issued an unmodified, or clean, opinion of the City’s FY20 Financial Statements. CLA's audit indicated the financial records provided by the City of Santa Fe were clean of misrepresentation, and that the city maintained financial records in accordance with the standards known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Stephanie Woodruff, the Chair of the City’s independent Audit Committee says, "This is a huge step forward. I want to recognize the Mayor for his leadership and everyone in the city's Finance Department for their commitment and hard work to ensure the City’s financial statements are accurate and provide a sound financial basis for the City of Santa Fe moving forward."

Woodruff added that completion of the FY 2020 audit represents ongoing efforts to clean up many decades-old issues identified by the 2017 McHard Accounting Consulting Report, which identified serious issues of concern. "The City is taking the time to do things right, including designing and implementing new internal controls, offering important and needed training, and making sure the new MUNIS financial and accounting system is used correctly. This is the way a city should be managed, and is, I believe, one of the reasons we are in a better situation financially this year," Woodruff says.

Mayor Alan Webber says, “We’re committed to using this audit and the internal audits that we’ve been conducting to improve the performance of City government on behalf of our residents. It’s great that we got an unqualified opinion on this audit—in effect, a 'clean' audit. But an audit is our way of holding up a mirror to ourselves and seeing where we can and must do better. That’s our commitment: to do better.”

The FY 2020 audit by CLA was originally due to the OSA by December 15, 2020. Brian Colón, the State Auditor, said previously that he would rather have a tardy audit with accurate data than one that's inaccurate.

Finance Director Mary McCoy says, "The clean opinion comes during a fiscal year that the City’s Finance Department staff was charged with reconciling not one but two separate accounting and human resources systems, tracking and accounting for all federal funds we received including $17.5 million in CARES Act grant funding late last year, and dealing with staffing issues caused by the pandemic. We are continuing to make improvements to ensure we are being accountable to the Santa Fe residents we serve and providing additional training and resources our staff." 

Due to accounting/CPA staffing shortages, the Governing Body appropriated $500,000 in the FY22 budget to support the City’s audit preparation. The city issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for an accounting firm to assist with year-end closing for the 2021 fiscal year in order to help ensure it meets the December 2021 deadline for that audit. Additionally, the Governing Body approved funding several frozen Finance positions, for which the City is actively recruiting. To view additional information regarding our current job announcements and submit an application, please visit our Job Opportunities Portal at: https://www.santafenm.gov/how_to_apply