Colorado Springs council hears 2027 city audit plan; no vote taken
City Auditor Natalie Lovell said the proposed 2027 plan would raise staffing to 17 FTE, budget about $2.1 million in core spending and reserve 1,500 hours for emerging audit work. Council discussed the proposal at a July 13 work session but did not vote.
Colorado Springs City Council heard a proposed 2027 audit plan from City Auditor Natalie Lovell at a July 13 work session, but the meeting record shows no vote on the plan.
Lovell told council the office would grow from 15.5 authorized full-time equivalent positions to 17 FTE under the proposal, with a core budget of about $2.1 million and an all-in budget of about $2.4 million including overhead. She said the plan also reserves 1,500 hours of unassigned audit work for emerging issues, expanded scope or council requests.
Lovell said the office developed the plan using code-required audits, post-audit reviews, fraud-waste-and-abuse hotline trends and interviews with city leadership and council members. She said the office scored more than 200 possible audits before narrowing the 2027 list.
Airport work remains a major focus, and Lovell said the plan elevates information-technology risk into its own priority category. The public meeting record does not fully list each proposed audit or IT-risk project.
According to the meeting record, the council Audit Committee had already reviewed and recommended the plan. Council members used the work session to ask about staffing, airport oversight, hotline work and the auditor's independence.
Lovell told council the audit office reports to the public rather than the mayor's office.