# Open-records review checklist

Draft only. Nothing in this checklist has been sent. Each item asks for existing records and distinguishes published evidence from inference. The local links open the source PDF at the cited file page. The audit corpus already includes FY2018 through FY2025; this checklist does not treat those audits as missing.

Priorities reflect the value of resolving the public presentation: **high** for conflicting published financial statements or opening balances, **medium** for material spending and transaction explanations, and **low** for secondary basis questions or immaterial printed-total differences.

## High priority — published-statement reconciliation

### RR-01 — FY2025 school opening-balance corrections

**Question.** What entries and reconciliation connect the $1,214,893 General Purpose School Fund beginning-balance correction to the $2,877,152 governmentwide beginning-balance correction?

**Known evidence.** The FY2025 audit publishes both corrections. They have different reporting scopes, so their difference is not evidence of an error and neither amount is current-year revenue.

**Records needed.** Request the existing reconciliation schedule and journal-entry support for the $1,214,893 fund-level correction; the schedule connecting fund-level corrections to the $2,877,152 governmentwide correction; and any approved adjustment explanation or corrected prior-year schedule.

**Sources.** [Governmentwide correction](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=30), [school fund statements](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=33), and [school correction detail](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=40). Existing request text: Draft 4 in `docs/records-requests/athens-financial-reconciliation-drafts.md`.

### RR-02 — School debt-service opening-balance carry-forward

**Question.** Why does FY2022 begin at $1,997,652 when the FY2021 predecessor schedule ends at $1,990,474?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The $7,178 difference equals interest printed in FY2021 as both an expenditure and another financing use. Both source amounts are preserved, and each schedule is internally consistent when its published rows are retained. The equality does not prove which presentation, if either, should be corrected.

**Records needed.** Request the FY2021 year-end and FY2022 opening reconciliation, opening-balance and adjusting entries, a chart-of-accounts or fund-reclassification crosswalk, and any corrected statement.

**Sources.** [FY2021 predecessor schedule](/api/documents/eef0e3d298ef25188cccaf2f4f49c8428ec72cc467dbda7bc7c3d590173f7967#page=131) and [FY2022 Debt Service – Schools schedule](/api/documents/480220bba0b2d99d557eae72c905bb11bc60bfbd6e636b5939784c2167d944de#page=137). Existing request text: Draft 3.

### RR-03 — School Construction transfer to Education Capital Projects

**Question.** Did School Construction send the $564,298 received by Education Capital Projects in FY2025?

**Known evidence versus inference.** School Construction reports $1,505,826 transferred out. A separately supported $941,528 went toward school debt, leaving $564,298, exactly the transfer received by Education Capital Projects. This constrained arithmetic reconciles the totals, but no reviewed source explicitly names the sender of the $564,298.

**Records needed.** Request interfund ledger entries, journal vouchers, sending and receiving account codes, posting dates, supporting approvals, and the year-end transfer reconciliation.

**Sources.** [FY2025 audited school-fund transfers](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=33) and [school debt transfer in](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=104). Existing request text: Draft 5.

### RR-04 — Fleet Fund FY2018 and FY2019 cash-flow conflicts

**Question.** Which published Fleet cash-flow figures are supported by the ledger and year-end reconciliation?

**Known evidence versus inference.** FY2018 Fleet-specific and general proprietary schedules differ by $1,523 in customer receipts and asset purchases while reaching the same ending cash. FY2019 ending-cash figures differ by $650,362, exactly the listed asset purchase. The Fleet-specific schedules reconcile internally; the equalities do not establish corrections.

**Records needed.** Request cash, receivable and capital-asset ledger extracts limited to the identified figures; year-end reconciliation schedules; adjusting entries; and any explanatory memo, corrected statement or superseding statement.

**Sources.** [FY2018 general schedule](/api/documents/6c3a44eefb32a30c76dfcba701025e173661ad0bcbef5ced6f5104fbeb9af0e5#page=39), [FY2018 Fleet schedule](/api/documents/6c3a44eefb32a30c76dfcba701025e173661ad0bcbef5ced6f5104fbeb9af0e5#page=123), [FY2019 general schedule](/api/documents/474c65851de701b0f7c04d79027556b0f9f87bf1925aaa0d8507afbbe33feb07#page=42), and [FY2019 Fleet schedule](/api/documents/474c65851de701b0f7c04d79027556b0f9f87bf1925aaa0d8507afbbe33feb07#page=139). Existing request text: Draft 1.

### RR-05 — Sanitation FY2019 cash-flow difference

**Question.** What supports the reported cash decrease and ending balance when the listed rows differ by $8,874?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The rows total an $83,532 decrease, while the schedule reports a $74,658 decrease and $228,799 ending cash. The $8,874 difference equals the listed asset acquisition, but that equality is not proof of a correction.

**Records needed.** Request the cash-reconciliation schedule, adjusting entries, capital-asset support, cash-ledger support for ending cash, and any corrected statement.

**Source.** [FY2019 Sanitation cash flow](/api/documents/474c65851de701b0f7c04d79027556b0f9f87bf1925aaa0d8507afbbe33feb07#page=42). Existing request text: Draft 2.

## Medium priority — material spending and transaction support

### RR-06 — Federal Projects expenditure decline

**Question.** Which grants and closeouts account for the $2,061,895 decline from FY2024 to FY2025?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Fund statements locate the decline in instruction, support services and capital outlay. FY2024 federal-award schedules provide grant context, including Education Stabilization subprograms, but their different scope does not reconcile the fund statement.

**Records needed.** Request grant-level ledgers for both years, award and closeout schedules, reimbursement records, and a project-code crosswalk to the statement categories.

**Sources.** [FY2024 fund statement](/api/documents/d884acdb6114332bb03bdb24437cff98e03c824d18ce818206c38c375decd5f3#page=44), [FY2025 fund statement](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=41), and [FY2024 federal award schedule](/api/documents/d884acdb6114332bb03bdb24437cff98e03c824d18ce818206c38c375decd5f3#page=194).

### RR-07 — Education Capital Projects expenditure decline

**Question.** Which projects and payments account for the $2,655,168 decline from FY2024 to FY2025?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Expenditures fell from $3,219,466 to $564,298. The audit says the related new-school project was completed, and council records discuss Westside improvements, but neither source allocates the fund-level change to specific work or proves Westside costs passed through this fund.

**Records needed.** Request the project ledger, invoice and payment register, new-school closeout schedule, and records showing whether Westside improvements were posted to this fund.

**Sources.** [FY2024 fund statement](/api/documents/d884acdb6114332bb03bdb24437cff98e03c824d18ce818206c38c375decd5f3#page=36), [FY2025 fund statement](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=33), [audit project-completion context](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=24), and [March 2025 council context](/api/documents/3c78d5f58fd1cb38f9edb59f5e216ea23c93bebc80bfc692b31c2a786c17f9ef#page=5).

### RR-08 — USDA debt refinancing and repayment trace

**Question.** What was the complete closing and payment sequence for the approximately $30 million earlier repayment and later USDA debt-service activity?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Meeting material supplies refinancing context and the FY2025 schedule confirms current fund activity. The reviewed packet does not prove final passage of every proposed action or trace the earlier repayment through closing.

**Records needed.** Request final closing statements, sources-and-uses schedules, executed resolutions and loan documents, payoff confirmation, the payment ledger, and a reconciliation to recorded principal and interest.

**Sources.** [FY2024 USDA debt-service actuals](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=102) and [FY2025 USDA debt-service actuals](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=104).

### RR-09 — Capital Improvement project and pass-through grant detail

**Question.** Which court, storm-water and pass-through grant transactions account for the material year-to-year changes?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Audited schedules establish annual totals and reviewed records give project context. Total grant revenue cannot identify pass-through recipients or reconcile individual projects to expenditure changes.

**Records needed.** Request court-project closeout records, storm-water invoice and payment registers, pass-through award and recipient lists, project codes, disbursement ledgers, and reimbursement schedules.

**Sources.** [FY2024 Capital Improvement actuals](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=108) and [FY2025 Capital Improvement actuals](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=113).

### RR-10 — FY2025 additional pension contribution postings

**Question.** How was the $629,000 General Fund pension budget increase posted across departments, and which actual payments were regular versus additional contributions?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The finance material documents department-level budget allocations, and the audit identifies the increase as an additional defined-benefit pension contribution. Appropriations do not establish actual postings or payment dates. This one request consolidates the repeated pension question shown for many departments.

**Records needed.** Request affected retirement-account ledgers, allocation journal entries, payment and remittance support, and an amendment-to-actual reconciliation.

**Sources.** [Department pension allocations](/api/documents/593f0f3556afff0555c43e5e26d0493807c89a25753112de257cd1840bf0438f#page=119), [budget amendment detail](/api/documents/593f0f3556afff0555c43e5e26d0493807c89a25753112de257cd1840bf0438f#page=120), and [audited pension context](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=24).

### RR-11 — Police and fire payroll drivers

**Question.** How much of the material salary and overtime changes came from pay rates, vacancies, staffing transfers or account allocation?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Published actuals establish the changes, but reviewed records do not quantify the causes. The FY2025 pension amendment is later than the FY2024 Police Special Services salary jump and cannot explain it.

**Records needed.** Request payroll totals by position and pay type, staffing-event dates, pay-plan tables and effective dates, and overtime detail with sensitive personal fields redacted for Police Special Services, Police Patrol and Fire Suppression.

**Sources.** [Police Special Services](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=66), [FY2024 Police Patrol](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=68), [FY2025 Police Patrol](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=69), [FY2024 Fire Suppression](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=48), and [FY2025 Fire Suppression](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=49).

### RR-12 — Project, contract and vendor payment detail

**Question.** Which vendors, projects and payment dates account for the identified Street Maintenance, Cemeteries and Traffic Control actuals?

**Known evidence versus inference.** Memoranda, bids and authorizations provide scope and budget context. They do not reconcile contract amounts or planned purchases to fiscal-year actuals.

**Records needed.** Request Street Maintenance invoices and purchase-order history; the Cemeteries contract ledger and invoices supporting the $121,350 actual; Traffic Control FY2025 purchase orders, invoices and amendments; and a vendor/project/account crosswalk.

**Sources.** [FY2024 Street Maintenance](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=85), [FY2025 Street Maintenance](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=86), [FY2025 Cemeteries](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=35), and [FY2025 Traffic Control](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=88).

### RR-13 — City Hall, legal-services and Conference Center actuals

**Question.** Which invoices and ledger postings account for the identified City Hall insurance, City Council legal-services and Conference Center actual expenses?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The FY2025 finance memorandum explains related budget amendments, including lawsuit deductibles, city-attorney fees and a transfer intended for future Conference Center work. Amendment amounts are appropriations and a transfer is funding; neither establishes the actual expenses paid during the year.

**Records needed.** Request City Hall liability-insurance invoices and ledger detail, including the matters tied to the cited deductibles; City Council legal-services invoices by matter or service category; Conference Center invoices, purchase orders and payments for the identified work; and an existing amendment-to-actual reconciliation.

**Sources.** [Finance memorandum](/api/documents/593f0f3556afff0555c43e5e26d0493807c89a25753112de257cd1840bf0438f#page=118), [amendment detail](/api/documents/593f0f3556afff0555c43e5e26d0493807c89a25753112de257cd1840bf0438f#page=120), [City Council actuals](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=27), [City Hall actuals](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=29), and [Conference Center statement](/api/documents/06e17bf4b79e199edd4302387972d110110d2d72f3c6a5cf292a63affafec622#page=43).

## Low priority — secondary reconciliation

### RR-14 — Fleet FY2024 acquisitions and capital contribution

**Question.** Does transaction support reconcile the $573,834 budget-book purchase total to audited acquisitions of $650,679 and the separately reported $76,845 capital contribution?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The difference equals the capital contribution, but equality does not establish common scope or accounting basis.

**Records needed.** Request the acquisition ledger and invoice register, capital-contribution support, and any existing crosswalk between the two presentations.

**Sources.** [Audited acquisitions and contribution](/api/documents/d884acdb6114332bb03bdb24437cff98e03c824d18ce818206c38c375decd5f3#page=156) and [budget-book purchase history](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=129).

### RR-15 — Sanitation depreciation source discrepancy

**Question.** What does the $3,874 FY2024 budget-book depreciation figure represent, and how does it relate to audited depreciation of $165,968?

**Known evidence versus inference.** The figures differ materially and may use different scope or basis. The audited value is used for comparable reporting; the budget-book value remains unreconciled.

**Records needed.** Request depreciation-ledger detail, fixed-asset schedules, the budget-book workpaper or account mapping, and any existing reconciliation.

**Sources.** [FY2024 audited Sanitation expenses](/api/documents/d884acdb6114332bb03bdb24437cff98e03c824d18ce818206c38c375decd5f3#page=46) and [FY2024 budget-book Sanitation detail](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=113).

### RR-16 — Printed detail-to-total differences

**Question.** Are the recorded $1 to $4 detail-to-total differences rounding, presentation artifacts or source-entry differences?

**Known evidence.** Fifteen small differences are preserved in the exception data. They do not affect document coverage and do not by themselves establish an error. Their low value makes this a follow-up only after the material reconciliation requests.

**Records needed.** Request the existing budget-system report or worksheet that generated the affected schedules, the applicable rounding or report-format specification, and corrected pages only if already issued.

**Example sources.** [City Hall $1 difference](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=29), [Fire Prevention $2 difference](/api/documents/b35c2920812d39590b12080cf3729d4feefbb86d3789ffacc56b424dc778e7c0#page=44), and [Parks Maintenance $4 difference](/api/documents/ff2dbfcb83e83de720aed8280d6fdf0ec67ec536dc26fc0a07878ac126693779#page=57).

## Review before any submission

- Confirm which items the owner wants to pursue and whether related items should be combined into one request.
- Recheck the city’s current records-request channel and recipient; neither is established here.
- Attach or identify the cited audit pages so the custodian can locate the figures.
- Ask for electronic copies of existing records and avoid asking the city to create a new calculation or explanation.
- Keep submissions and received records alongside the source corpus, then update each item with the response and any remaining inference.


## Follow-up investigation

RR-04: Fleet FY2019 ending cash of $32,554 is corroborated by FY2020 opening cash; no explicit erratum was located. The FY2018 $1,523 activity difference remains unresolved.

RR-05: Sanitation FY2019 ending cash of $228,799 is corroborated by FY2020, but the $8,874 acquisition classification remains unresolved.

RR-03: Further audit and budget review did not explicitly identify the sender of the $564,298 receipt. Keep the route inferred; the $7,178 older carry difference is separate.