State Auditor Brian Colón

From the Office of the State Auditor:

…National accounting firm withdraws from City of Santa Fe audit as millions in cash reconciliation are incomplete

ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colón today announced plans for State financial intervention for the City of Santa Fe (“City”) as worsening fiscal mismanagement led to conditions that precluded the audit from being completed.

Those conditions include a high-risk audit environment, together with the City’s failure to reconcile cash, which caused the City’s independent public accounting firm to withdraw from the annual audit engagement for fiscal year 2021, which was an already late audit report due in December of 2021. 

The City’s failure to prioritize audit timeliness or take years of concerns raised by Auditor Colón seriously necessitate the intervention approach to support overall economic stability and prevent further financial crisis for the City, including risks associated with potential noncompliance concerning federal funds, credit downgrades and bond ratings, public health and safety concerns.

“The City’s finances are in distress. Apparently, there is $4-5 million dollars in cash that was not reconciled by the agreed-upon deadline and therefore the City is not auditable,” Auditor Colón said. “After ringing the alarm for more than a year, and speaking directly with Mayor Webber, the City continues to demonstrate a reckless disregard for compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

“I have repeatedly made every effort to prevent financial risk by offering assistance and recommendations to the City but have been met with little to no results. We have engaged the Department of Finance (DFA) and its Local Government Division (LGD) to discuss a path forward to fix the City’s broken financial situation. Citizens of Santa Fe have a right to know if the City is acting responsibly with their tax dollars, but that is impossible when the City fails to timely deliver an independent and objective assessment on how those dollars are used.” concluded Auditor Colón.

New Mexicans concerned about potential instances of waste, fraud, and abuse should contact the Office of the State Auditor. Reports may be made anonymously at www.saonm.org, by calling 1-866-OSA-FRAUD or speaking to an investigator at 505.476.3800.