West Point's clean audit came with one recommendation: old checks that never cleared

West Point's auditors issued no findings for fiscal 2025 but recommended that the city deal with checks more than a year old that had not cleared the bank, according to a staff memo for the council's Jan. 20, 2026 meeting. ^[1]

The recommendation

The memo, from Ryan Harvey of the Administrative Services Department, says, "This year the auditors did not issue any findings!" It recommends that the council approve the annual financial statements and audit report. ^[1]

The memo says auditors recommended that staff "research these disbursements and reissue the check or submit the amount to unclaimed property." Staff said they were already working on it with the state and expected it to be resolved within the fiscal year. ^[1]

Two balance figures

The audit's governmental funds balance sheet lists the general fund's unassigned balance at $1,979,323, within a total fund balance of $1,986,149. ^[2]

The report's budgetary note says, "At year end, the City's unassigned general fund balance was $1,905,306 which is 33.43% of current year revenue." The same note says state law allows a general fund balance equal to 35% of current-year revenue. ^[2]

The report does not explain the $74,017 difference between the two figures. ^[2]

What the report contains

The report's table of contents lists an internal-control report at printed page 65 and a state-compliance report at printed page 67. The appendix containing those reports is part of the posted file. ^[2]

The state compliance report is dated Jan. 6, 2026. It says the auditor did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over compliance that it considers material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, and that such deficiencies may exist that were not identified. Under "Other Matters," it also says the audit's results "disclosed instances of noncompliance" described in an accompanying schedule of findings and recommendations, and that its opinion on compliance is not modified for them. ^[3]

The posted audit file ends without that schedule. This story does not know what, if anything, the schedule would list. It does not resolve the difference between that language and the staff memo's statement that the auditors did not issue any findings. ^[3][1]