Monday's Common Council meeting started with a presentation from Rodney Saunders and Todd Albaugh, accountants with McGladrey and Pullen, LLP, who spoke about the city's FY2010 audit. 

The Statement of Auditing Standards (SAS), or audit report card, suggests that Westminster is improving its financial accountability overall. 

According to Albaugh, there were a handful of deficient audit results in terms of financial reporting practices, but compared to last year's 22 findings, the Council was satisfied with the significant progress made in just one year. 

"Great progress, from 22 down to five findings, there is obviously still room for improvement, but it's progress," Saunders said. 

Councilman Dr. Robert Wack said that the city is making improvements both in terms of accountability--as seen in the audit, and transparency--as seen in the improved budget procedures.

"I'm happy with the direction we're going, I'm not satisfied yet. We can always do better, but we're heading in the right direction," Wack said.

Immediately following the audit report, Lenny Moore, representing the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) presented the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to Mayor Kevin Utz and Director of Finance & Administrative Services, Gary Ehlers. 

According to a news release, the award reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive the award, Westminster city government had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. In 2009, only 1,214 government entities received the award in the US.

"The people of the city have a right to know where their money is going. They won't know that unless we do a good job explaining the budget to them. We've struggled with that over the years. With this award, it's evident that we are doing a better job," said Councilman Gregory Pecoraro. 

Dr. Wack said that as a result of tighter budget controls and the effort to spend responsibly, the city is in "excellent shape" financially.

"The city has done a fantastic job controlling costs this year," Wack said. "We are probably 10 to 20 percent below budget across departments. It's been a long, hard road, but it's finally starting to pay off." 

Wack noted that the any small surplus the city sees, will likely be "eaten up" by retirement and  health care costs. But he added, "it won't present as big a problem as it has in the past because so much work has been done to control costs in other places." 

The next meeting of the Common Council is scheduled for Monday, February 14.