It looks like the town may move ahead with hiring an auditor general to assist in an operational review.
On March 18 council approved a motion that the town of Erin consider appointing an auditor general/consultant to assist council in proceeding with the review and that it be referred to the budget process.
The notice of motion was brought forward by Mayor Lou Maieron, who left the mayor’s chair to make his lengthy presentation from the podium.
Maieron’s 69-page presentation began with his reading sections of the Ontario Municipal Act that he said were pertinent to the discussion.
He contended part of the role of council is to ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of senior management.
In addition, he maintained part of his job as the head of council was to provide leadership and promote public involvement in the municipality’s activities.
Maieron said the role of the auditor general is to assist and report to council in holding itself and its administrators accountable over the stewardship of public funds.
He noted an operational review was part of the previous year’s budget and that nine months have gone by since the review was supposed to begin.
The initiative for the review came as a result of a petition signed by 200 residents.
Maieron suggested $20,000 to $30,000 be included in the 2014 budget to hire an auditor general to assist council in the review. He was against the idea of staff conducting its own operational review.
“I don’t think that is right. I do not believe that is what the operational review had in mind,” said Maieron.
“By comparison, when the new Liberal McGuinty government came in they brought in a number of measures for greater accountability and transparency – an integrity commissioner, auditor general, ombudsman, a closed meeting investigator.”
He said the one integrity commission case in Erin last year cost the town roughly $18,750.
“So in my mind, I don’t think having $20,000 to $30,000 for an auditor general is necessarily a bad idea,” he added.
Maieron explained there are different types of audits – both internal and external. He then cited the example of Oshawa, which has an auditor general which came with a cost of about $180,000.
Maieron said those reports have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of that municipality.
“The hope here, is to get more for our limited tax dollars,” he said.
He maintained that staff cannot really undertake an operational review “because you want to bring in someone with different experiences and a broader scope.”
Maieron said an operational review addresses issues instead of simply meeting challenges brought forward regarding growth and change.
Councillor Josie Wintersinger asked how Maieron planned to finance the position.
Maieron wanted the position included within the 2014 budget. He suggested $53,000 represents a 1% tax increase, therefore the position would represent only 0.5% tax increase.
The mayor maintains the cost is similar to that incurred for the integrity commissioner in 2013.
“I’d rather spend $20,000 in an operational review to see if we and staff can do our jobs better,” said Maieron.
Councillor John Brennan agreed there were larger municipalities which could benefit from an auditor general (the examples provided by Maieron included Ottawa, Oshawa, Sudbury and Toronto).
Brennan said the County of Bruce appears to have employed a consultant at a cost of over $100,000.
While Brennan believed an operational review is a good thing, he said, “I’m not sure that I really want to spend a lot of money to hire an auditor general, who then will go out and hire a consulting company to come and do the review.”
Brennan said it made more sense to cut out the auditor general position and get someone from the outside to assist in an operational review.
He added, “I’m not sure what we will get for $20,000 to $30,000. Maybe we can get a decent job done for $30,000, I don’t know.”
Brennan wanted some assurance that if council sets aside the money in the budget, the town will actually get something meaningful at the end of the process.
“We have to get a report on what is available and what it would cost,” said Brennan.
He commented that at the provincial level, the auditor general does not do the job himself. He added, “You can appoint one guy, but he’s not going to do it (alone). You’ll be paying him a salary to go out and find someone to do the work.”
Brennan said, “Let’s look into this more and the ramifications before we jump off the bridge.”
Maieron said his idea was simply to get this into the budget for either an auditor general or a firm to do the job.
“I don’t believe staff can do an operational review themselves,” said Maieron.
Brennan added staff had already undertaken steps to re-organize and find efficiencies and better use of employees.
Councillor Barb Tocher suggested voting on the motion before them and looking at details during the next budget meeting. She clarified that if it is a budget item, it should not be discussed outside of the budget process.
Councillor Wintersinger did not believe the work could be accomplished for the proposed cost. She said councillors were not against the idea of an operational review, “it’s just that we were trying to keep the taxes down.”
Council subsequently endorsed the motion to include an auditor general as part of the ongoing 2014 budget talks.
