On Thursday, September 17, 2026, the Norman City Council Finance Committee convened to discuss four agenda items. The meeting was called to order by the chair, with staff presentations on the upcoming audit, the fiscal year 2028 budget calendar, the fiscal year 2026 budget close-out, and monthly revenue and expenditure reports.
Introduction of Forvis LLC Auditors: Joel Hauser from Forvis (formerly Mazars) presented the audit plan for the city's annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR). The audit will occur in three phases: planning (assessing internal controls), substantive fieldwork (3–4 weeks on-site), and wrap-up (issuing an opinion and communicating findings). Significant risks identified include management override of controls, improper revenue recognition, and new GASB accounting standards. Council Member Bruce inquired about compliance audits for federal grants (single audit) and noted that state grants without federal flow-through are not audited at the city level. Discussion also covered the role of internal vs. external auditors; Hauser explained that typically internal and external auditors do not review each other's work unless the internal department is large enough to share work to save costs. The pre-audit letter was distributed to the committee.
Fiscal Year 2028 Budget Calendar: Jane Vaughn, budget manager, presented the proposed calendar running from September 2026 through budget adoption on June 8, 2027. Key dates include:
Council Member Bruce expressed concern that the budget process lacks a risk-based analysis visible to council, noting that base budgeting (non-zero-based) does not highlight the probability or impact of funding decisions (e.g., overtime for fire, staffing for police dispatch). He requested that the results of the management team's prioritization (including risk ranking) be presented to the finance committee before the preliminary budget is printed in April. It was agreed to add a presentation to the March finance committee showing the ranked list of all requests and the city manager's decisions. Council Member Still emphasized the importance of onboarding new council members, especially given the February election and March retreat, and suggested a shadow program or specific budget orientation for newly elected members.
Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Close-Out: Clint, finance director, reviewed fund summaries as of August 31, 2026 (pre-audit). For the general fund:
For the Public Safety Sales Tax fund: debt service will be paid off by March 2027 from leftover proceeds.
For the Water fund: FY26 ended with a positive $17 million fund balance, including $8.9 million from sale of water wells and $1 million in ARPA grants. Capital projects (e.g., AMI meters) totaling $50 million are in progress.
For the Water Reclamation fund: FY26 ended with a positive $2.2 million, but the fund is winding down; a rate study is underway and a rate increase request is expected soon (requires voter approval per council discussion).
For the Sanitation fund: FY26 ended with positive $1.1 million and a fund balance of $13 million; last rate increase was in 2012; a rate increase is likely forthcoming.
For the Capital fund: Bond proceeds from street maintenance and bridge bonds were noted; fund balance is large but will be spent down as projects progress.
For the Norman Forward fund: FY26 ended with positive $1.2 million; most payments now go to debt service.
Monthly Revenue and Expenditure Reports: As of August 31, 2026, general fund sales tax was up 10.52% year-to-date, use tax up 29%, and franchise fees up 16%. Early September collections showed sales tax up 4.72%, bringing year-to-date to 8.56%. Council Member noted strong numbers despite typically drier summer months. Licensing and permits jumped 50%; staff will investigate whether this is due to growth, concerts (e.g., Luke Combs in July), or other events. Expenditures through two months were $20.2 million, slightly below the prior year's $20.6 million. The committee discussed use tax timing (two-month lag) and that TIFF money is not reflected in these reports. Overtime report: public works overtime was driven by storm cleanup ($290,000 in labor included in reimbursement request). Council Member Scott pointed out that SRO overtime is budgeted at $0 but accrues due to contract; he suggested reflecting expected overtime in the budget for better accuracy, a policy that could be changed.
I want to thank everybody for attending the city council finance committee for Thursday, September 17th. We have four items on our agenda, and I like to call the meeting to order. First agenda item is introduction of Forbus LLC auditors for the city of Norman. Do we have a representative for that? We do. I'm gonna call up uh Kim Kaufman, who uh is our chief accountant assistant finance director. If she if you want to come up, Kim and introduce uh our uh season. All right, explain what what I'm doing. Yes, sir, thank you. I think we've got it in the oh, is in their back at the end. Okay, yeah, it's in a publicity. Well, I have extra I'll keep this one for the mayor just in case he needs it. This is Joel Hauser with uh Forvis uh not just for risk. For Czars. Thank you, sir. One job. I had one job. That's okay. No, no, right. Right, thank you. I'm still trying to get used to that myself. Um so Mazars was we had a merger about a year ago, here almost two years ago now. So Mazar's is a big um CPA firm in in Europe that has a global connection. So now we're we're pretty much global and work in a hundred different countries across the U.S. I still work in Tulsa and I'm gonna stay there. So Oklahoma English is all I want to learn. Oh, we appreciate the time. But yeah, no, I just kick off um in your packets. We have to issue a it's called a pre-audit letter. Um, just uh a letter to kind of give everybody an idea of of what an audit is, uh, what we do. I I won't go into any huge detail, but to let you know that um the city prepares an AC for an annual comprehensive financial report, which is is the gold standard of reports that cities can issue. So we do a little extra work just because it is an actor. Um so let you guys know that. We actually started the audit. We do uh kind of three phases. We have our planning phase, which is what we use to assess internal controls and kind of put together our audit plan for the year. Um we have what is called basically the substantive field work, so that's when we'll be on site for three to four weeks going through records and doing a lot of that information, and then at the end of it, of course it's wrap-up, we'll issue our opinion on those financial statements and are required to communicate any significant items that are uncovered during the audit. So those are things big things that are either significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, or findings on your federal programs. Um we'll communicate all that with Clint and team, and then um point of contact at the city is with the mayor. Um, and so anything pops up, we will let them know. Um last thing to kind of mention. Hold on just one second. Don't mind. I think we have a question, Councilmember Bruce. Oh, okay, yes. Yes, sir. I understand the audit of the financial statements and how the city got there related to those financial statements. What I'm not sure about my mind is compliance of federal awards. Okay. So are we talking about grants?