The Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce reiterated its call for an independent city auditor on Friday as city council considers a vast number of painful program cuts to slash its operating budget.
City council approved last October the plan to appoint an independent auditor who would scrutinize municipal finances and spending. However, little apparent progress has been made and the position remains unfilled.
The GOCC believes that, if the city ever needed an independent auditor looking over its shoulder, it is now. The funding cuts in the proposed draft budget leave few stones unturned and the outrage has been heard from such diverse corners as the arts community, parks and recreation, and economic development agencies such as OCRI and the OTCA.
The GOCC warns that the city has put itself into a corner where every penny spent will be under scrutiny. The independent auditor is critical to ensure tax dollars will be managed in the most efficient manner possible to satisfy the public that the sacrifices have not been in vain.
"We also believe the city is lacking in important fiscal policies that would provide guidelines for acceptable and not acceptable expenses," Gail Logan, president of the GOCC, said in a statement.
The existing system, with an internal auditor and an external audit carried out by an outside firm, only verifyreceipts with payouts and confirm that expenses claims are valid, the GOCC says. What is needed is an office than will carry out "value for money" audits that would justify funding amounts for individual municipal departments.
The GOCC has raised the issue several times over the past year, most recently in the pages of the Ottawa Business Journal earlier this month.
"It is not obvious to us exactly how the city's money is being spent and allocated and, in order for us to make good, solid decisions on behalf of the taxpayers, we've got to have that information," Logan told the OBJ.
In its pre-budget submission to city council in late January , the GOCC focused on a number of accountability and transparency issues and emphasized that need for an independent auditor.
