Tiburon is two years behind on its required financial audits, and it will cost taxpayers $250,000 to catch up.

The Town Council voted unanimously on Aug. 5 to approve a $195,000 contract with Rogers Anderson Malody & Scott LLP to complete overdue audits for fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. The town had already paid the firm $55,000 for a preliminary "discovery" phase, bringing the total tab to a quarter-million dollars.

Town Manager Greg Chanis attributed the backlog to staffing problems in the Administrative Services Department that stretched from 2021 through 2024. During that period, the town relied entirely on outside contract help to handle audits while its own staff managed day-to-day operations, the Marin Independent Journal reported. Chanis said staffing has since stabilized.

The firm's timeline calls for completing the FY 2023-2024 audit by the end of October, the FY 2024-2025 audit by the end of March 2027 and the FY 2025-2026 audit by June or July 2027. Chanis said staff will continue working to shorten that schedule.

The vote followed a summer of scrutiny. The Budget and Finance Committee, made up of Mayor Jon Welner and Vice Mayor Isaac Nikfar, met with staff after the June budget approval meeting, where council members had pressed for more consistent financial reporting.

"Our revenue has grown substantially over the last 10 years, but our costs have also grown substantially over the past 10 years, so I think it's really important for us, especially as the dollars get bigger and bigger and bigger, for us to understand what is coming in and going out on a very, very regular basis," Nikfar said at the Aug. 5 meeting.

Councilmember Jack Ryan pushed for an immediate verification step, asking staff to confirm that bank account balances match what the town reports. He called that reconciliation "80% of what a good audit will do."

Starting at the Wednesday, Aug. 19 council meeting, staff will present monthly financial reports including revenue and expense summaries, an investment overview and a 10-year revenue and expense report. The San Bernardino-based firm specializes in governmental audits and serves more than 20 cities.