External auditors give Charlotte an unmodified opinion; staff outlines uniform financial-partner policy and next steps

External auditors (Cherry Bekaert) reported an unmodified (clean) opinion on the City's financial statements and unmodified compliance opinions on federal and state awards they tested. The audit identified one corrected entry related to ERP implementation (capitalizing prepaid software as a right-to-use asset), no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies for the audited year and remediation of a prior-year material weakness. Auditors recommended continued attention to segregation-of-duties documentation and automated-control logging as the city completes its new ERP rollout.

Budget/strategy staff reviewed the Financial Partner Program for general-fund grants to nonprofits: the policy applies to annual general-fund awards to 501(c)(3) organizations, requires vendor registration, financial reporting, and performance measures. Staff explained that some city-funded programs (neighborhood matching grants, BDOT business-district grants) do not fit the Financial Partner box but receive similar scrutiny. Council discussed making multi-year "core-service" contracts part of the budget for organizations that act as long-term city partners (for example, Tree Charlotte or similar groups) and asked staff to ensure accountability and to present options during upcoming budget deliberations.