A guest blog by Chris Schnurr
Why am I not surprised the Auditor General was not hired?
It was a mysterious Blackberry email that has delayed Windsor’s 3-year quest to hire an auditor general.
The delay this time? Information provided during a council meeting advising that the City of London was contracting out their internal audit functions over hiring an Auditor General.
As a result, city council voted 9-1 to have administration study what London was doing.
London was considering contracting out audit functions over appointing an Auditor General. A report to London’s audit committee November 15, 2010 can be read here.
At first glance, there appears to be significant differences in powers between an Auditor General and those of a contracted out auditor – namely greater legislative authority to pry into city finances – something an external auditor would not have.
The report highlights several benefits to hiring an Auditor General with the most significant being the ability to audit a municipality’s local boards, corporations and grants recipients.
Windsor Airport, the Tunnel Commission and Enwin Utilities could conceivably be audited under the Auditor General model.
A contracted out auditor may only examine boards and commissions by request, and cannot audit grant recipients.
Thus, an audit of Windsor Airport, the Tunnel Commission or Enwin presumably could only be conducted if requested and authorized by city council.
An Auditor General may also examine an individual under oath. A contracted out auditor cannot.
According to the London Free Press, an outside firm would lack the powers an Auditor General has:
The previous council drove the issue to the one-yard line, with politicians voting unanimously in favour of hiring an outside firm that lacks the full powers of a true financial watchdogfor taxpayers (Patrick Maloney, London Free Press, December 15, 2010).
That council had decided to hire PriceWaterHouseCoopers for approximately $300,000, but London’s Chamber of Commerce preferred the Auditor General model at $800,000:
But Gerry Macartney, general manager of the London Chamber of Commerce, disagrees.
The chamber has called on the city to spend as much as $800,000 to hire an auditor general, a position Macartney says has several advantages.
An auditor general, he says, has legislative powers to probe city financial books that an external firm would not.
As for the increased cost, Macartney says chamber research shows cities can expect a 308% return annually on what they spend on an auditor general.
Fontana, who couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday, spoke out during the election campaign in favour of the auditor general. The post would “strengthen the process and procedures and responsibilities,” he argued (Patrick Maloney, London Free Press, December 15, 2010).
Frankly, this smacks of a tactic to thwart prying eyes from the finances at Fortress Enwin or the newly created Windsor Airport Corporation.
How convenient.
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