The draft of an annual financial report prepared by Durango city officials for later submission to the state auditor is not exempt from public disclosure under the work product provision of the Colorado Open Records Act, the Colorado Court of Appeals decided Thursday.

A three-judge panel of the state’s second-highest court affirmed a district court ruling that Durango resident John Simpson is entitled to a copy of the 2021 report, which he requested via CORA in August 2022.

The city claimed the draft financial statement was “work product,” defined in the open records law as “all intra- or inter-agency advisory or deliberative materials assembled for the benefit of elected officials, which materials express an opinion or are deliberative in nature and are communicated for the purpose of assisting such elected officials in reaching a decision within the scope of their authority.”