SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Santa Fe has published the fiscal year 2023 audit. City officials say the report shows progress regarding management of the city’s finances.
“Today I’m pleased to celebrate three kinds of good news. First, the City is caught up on its audits. Second, as far as our financial statements are concerned, we received a clean audit, the best type of opinion you can get. And third, our number of findings continues to decrease. Each of these would be good news on its own. All three together represent a terrific accomplishment and something we can all be proud of,” Mayor Alan Webber said in a press release.
Over the last few years, Santa Fe has struggled to complete audits of city finances. For example, the fiscal year 2021 audit was released over a year late, but now the city is back on track with its financial reporting.
You can find the latest audit at this link. It covers the period from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
Overall, the latest audit shows the city saw an increase of over $103 million in its net assets, primarily due to an increase in revenue. The city also maintains over $215 million in outstanding debt.
The audit did note duplicated pay periods in the accounting for federal airport improvement program funds, which resulted in an estimated cost to the city of about $86,333. The City of Santa Fe says a relatively recent hire of a new airport manager and the strengthening of related policies should help prevent that issue in the future.
