City of Sacramento
Budget and Audit Committee Report
915 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2025-01526 8/26/2025
City Auditor's Activity Report for the 3rd Quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024/2025 File ID: 2025-01526
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Pass a Motion: 1) accepting the City Auditor’s Activity Report for the 3rd Quarter of FY2024/25; and 2) forwarding to City Council for approval.
Contact: Farishta Ahrary, City Auditor, (916) 808-7266, [email protected], Office of the City Auditor
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-City Auditor’s Activity Report for the 3rd Quarter of FY2024/25 Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: According to the Council Rules of Procedure, the Budget and Audit Committee shall receive, review, and forward to the council as appropriate, reports, recommendations, and updates from the City Auditor. This report documents the City Auditor’s Activity Report for the 3rd Quarter of FY2024/25.
Policy Considerations: The City Auditor’s Activity Report for the 3rd Quarter of FY2024/25 is consistent with the Mayor and the City Council’s intent to have an independent audit function for the City of Sacramento.
Economic Impacts: None.
Environmental Considerations: None.
Sustainability: None.
Commission/Committee Action: None.
File ID: 2025-01526 8/26/2025
Rationale for Recommendation: This staff report provides the Budget and Audit Committee with information that may be used to meet its responsibility to provide oversight and supervision of the City Auditor.
Financial Considerations: The costs of the projects listed in the Activity Report were mostly funded out of the Office of the City Auditor Budget in the applicable fiscal year.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): None.
January through March 2025 Report Number: 2025/26-02
QUARTERLYACTIVITYREPORT
Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024/25
Report Issued During the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024/25 Introduction
The Quarterly Activity Report highlights the activities of the Office of the City Auditor for the third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2024/25. This report also identifies the status of the City Auditor's Fiscal Year 2024/25 Work Plan projects.
The Quarterly
Activity Report for
the period of
October 2024
through December
2024
City Auditor’s
Proposed Work
Plan for Fiscal
Year 2025/26
City Auditor’s
Whistleblower
Hotline Activity
Report for the Period
July 2024 through
December 2024
The Office of the City Auditor issued several reports during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024/25.
City Auditor's
Fiscal Year
2023/2024
Baseline Funding
Verification for
the Sacramento
Children's Fund
City Auditor's Fiscal
Year 2023/2024
Audited Cannabis
Business Operations
Tax Amount for the
Sacramento
Children's Fund
City Auditor's
Department of
Utilities'
Wastewater
Funds Review
City Auditor's
Department of
Utilities' Water
Funds Review
DEI Efforts
The Office's Racial and Gender
Equity Action Plan (RGEAP) Team
continued to work towards the
Citywide coordinated strategic
work plan focused on workforce
equity.
Other Highlights
The following highlights other activities of the Office of the City Auditor for this reporting period.
After a competitive recruitment,
Kevin Christensen was promoted to
Assistant Director for the Office of
the City Auditor.
Recruited for and hired a
Fiscal Policy Analyst, Jessica Lugo, to
work under the Research & Analysis
Division.
Staff Vacancies Diversity
Dashboards
The Office met with the Finance
Department’s Equity Team to
discuss potentially creating
dashboard(s) for an employee
survey they had conducted. Staff
presented our diversity
dashboards to the Department of
Utilities’ Policy Team.
Whistleblower
Hotline
The Office received a number of
whistleblower allegations.
Jordan Sweeney created a new
webpage on the City Auditor's
website for Measure L reports.
Measure L Reports
Webpage
Peer Support
The Office met with staff from the
Yolo County Division of Internal
Audits to provide whistleblower
hotline support and assistance.
The Office conducted a Citywide,
Department of Utilities, and the
Office of Cannabis Management
risk assessments for our Fiscal Year
2025/26 Work Plan.
Citywide Risk
Assessment
Initiated a Project
During this quarter, we initiated
the Potential Cost Savings and
Revenue Recovery Audit Services –
Utility Cost Recovery Audit.
FY 2024/25 Work Plan Assignments In-Progress
Audit of Fire Department Emergency Medical Services
Although this audit is not on hold, progress during this reporting period has been slower than anticipated due to departmental resource constraints. The audit is currently in the Report Writing phase, and additional analysis is being conducted to incorporate data from the most recent fiscal year.
Audit of the City's Ethics Commission
During this quarter, the audit is in the final stages of the Reporting Writing phase of the project. A draft was produced and is in the process of being circulated in order to obtain and report the views of management concerning the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. This audit was completed in April 2025.
The following highlights the status of the Fiscal Year 2024/25 Work Plan assignments in-progress.
Audit of Sacramento Police Department Military Equipment Use Policies and Inventory Practices Audit of the City's Animal Care Services
During this quarter, our office engaged a consultant to conduct a performance audit of the Animal Care Services Division. During this quarter, the audit was in the final stages of the Reporting Writing phase. The consultant completed of a draft for circulation in order to obtain and report the views of management concerning the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. The audit was completed in April 2025.
Audit of the City's Homeless Response - Motel Shelter Program This audit is a subset of our first homeless response audit project on Citywide and systemwide strategy and coordination. The audit is currently in the final stages of the Reporting Writing phase of the project. A draft was produced and is in the process of being circulated in order to obtain and report the views of management concerning the findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
During this quarter, the audit is in the final stages of the Reporting Writing phase of the project. A draft was produced and is in the process of being circulated in order to obtain and report the views of management concerning the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. This audit was completed in May 2025.
After being placed on a temporary hold, we resumed this audit late in the quarter. The audit is currently in the Fieldwork phase, with a small number of sub-objectives left to complete. We are assessing the remaining work to ensure alignment with current objectives.
Audit of the Transient Occupancy Tax
FY 2024/25 Work Plan Assignments In-Progress (Continued) Audit of the City's Complaint Investigation and Resolution Practices This audit has been placed on a temporary hold due to department resource constraints. The audit will be re-initiated when sufficient department resources are available.
www.cityofsacramento.gov/auditor
Audit of the Department of Utilities' Energy Use
This audit is moving into the Fieldwork phase of the project. During the last quarter, we substantially completed the Risk Assessment phase of the project while simultaneously completing our department-wide risk assessment to inform our Fiscal Year 2025/26 Work Plan. The Department of Utilities department-wide risk assessment is conducted by our office every four to five years, which involves identifying threats and controls to assess vulnerabilities and determine higher-risk areas to focus our audit attention in the coming years. This included meetings with key stakeholders in the Department of Utilities to understand potential areas of risk and opportunities for improvement. We presented the results of our department-wide risk assessment to the department’s executive team.
Potential Cost Savings and Revenue Recovery Audit Services – Utility Cost Recovery Audit This project was initiated during the quarter and will explore entering into contingency contracts with a vendor to conduct third-party audits to potentially identify cost savings and/or other audits to recover potential past taxes or any other monies or revenue owed to the City that were not properly attributed to the City or were not properly paid/collected and to determine potential future taxes and other monies owed to the City not previously counted.
Based on our initial research and discussions with key stakeholders, we intend the first service to be a Utility Cost Recovery Audit, which will examine the City’s electric, gas, propane, and telecommunications (data, internet, land line, cell phones) account invoices for the purpose of securing refunds, credits and cost reductions resulting from discovery of charges or costs in excess of those permitted or allowed by applicable contracts, tariffs, statues, rules, regulations and/or from overcharges or billing errors.
We are currently in the beginning stages of the procurement process to hire a vendor.
Audit of the Sacramento Police Department’s Property and Evidence Division Our office re-initiated the Audit of the Sacramento Police Department’s Property and Evidence Division. During the past quarter, we conducted a walk-through of the property and evidence facility, held interviews with SPD personnel, and performed research on industry best practices to inform our analysis and recommendations.