Mayor Jerry Sanders is scheduled to tell the City Council on Monday that the city has taken new steps to comply with the recommendations Kroll Inc. consultants laid out in their report last August.
Sanders said the city has hired qualified accountants to serve as the city’s financial reporting supervisors. Greg Levin, who oversees the city’s ongoing efforts to issue its overdue financial audits, has been named deputy controller until the city’s bylaws can be changed to split the City Auditor & Comptroller’s Office between a city comptroller and an auditor general. Kroll recommended the office be divided so that it no longer inspects the financial statements it prepares. Sanders reported that current city accountant Tracy McCraner will work under Levin as director of financial reporting.
The mayor also credited the council’s Audit Committee for establishing its own charter. But he noted that the committee, which Kroll said should be made up partly of private citizens, should also have to take requests from other city officials such as the CFO or city attorney. That provision does not currently exist.
Sanders also claims the pension board’s adoption of a 20-year timetable for the city to pay back its $1 billion pension deficit is evidence of compliance with Kroll’s recommendation that the city follow the recommendation of the Pension Reform Committee. The panel actually suggested a 15-year schedule, which voters approved in 2004.
You can read the entire status update here.