“Every year, the state auditor comes to the city and performs an audit. I’m proud to report, for the 17th consecutive year, the audit report shows no findings for the city.”

So said Federal Way mayor Skip Priest during the Federal Way City Council’s regular meeting Sept. 20. City finance director Tho Kraus provided the details on the state’s findings of how Federal Way handles the public’s money.

Kraus prefaced her remarks by saying the state looks at three different areas during its annual audit: accountability, the financial statement and federal grant compliance. The purpose of the financial statement audit, she said, is to make sure there are no “material misstatements” caused by “error, fraud or violation of laws.”

“The result of our 2010 audit is an unqualified opinion,” she said. “There were no significant deficiencies…and no instances of non-compliance.”

Kraus said the city was in full compliance with its federal grant money. The grant programs that are examined are ones in which expenditures exceed $500,000 a year. The two grant funded projects the auditor looked at were Phase 4 of the State Route 99 construction, and the Community Block Development Grant program.

As far as accountability, Kraus said the city had no major shortfalls in that area, either.

“The result is, the city’s internal controls were adequate to safeguard public assets. The city also complied with state law and regulations and its own policies and procedures,” she said.

Another positive from the yearly audit was that it was under budget, Kraus said.

“The total cost of the audit was estimated by the state auditor office at 650 hours, or almost $54,000 with travel expenses. The actual hours came in at 580 hours, or $47,000, and the city’s budget was close to $57,000, so we do have some savings for this year,” she said. “This really just shows the city is committed to public accountability.”

To view the detailed reports, visit the State Auditor’s office website: sao.wa.gov.