Councillor Jacques Legendre is critical of a recent recommendation by the City's Audit Committee that risks clouding the reporting relationship and leaving the public in the dark about the quality of municipal management.

"Audit teams should be fully independent of the administrators being audited and auditing results should be made public," he says.

Councillor Legendre is concerned that, if it accepts the Audit Committee's recommendation, the City of Ottawa, with a projected budget of close of $2 billion, may not achieve the cost savings expected from amalgamation, because problems of economy, efficiency and effectiveness will not be fully reported to Council.

"The best hope for achieving these savings is to use "best practices" combined with "value-for-money" audits, " says Legendre. 

The former Transition Board had initially recommended that the auditor report only to the City Manager. After facing extensive public criticism, it altered its stance and recommended a system of dual reporting.

Two of the Audit Committee's present recommendations are sound and will support independence of reporting. The Committee recommends that the Audit Office have its own budget (outside the City Manager's envelope) and that Council control hiring (and firing) of the Auditor.

The problem lies in the Committee's third recommendation, that, as the Transition Board proposed, the auditor report to both Council and the City Manager. Senior staff would greatly prefer a dual system. Their argument is that the involvement of the City Manager in the auditing process will calm "audit shakes" and promote a "healthy working environment" and better "cooperation" between staff and auditor. The city's present auditor has personally lobbied every city councillor, seeking support for the dual model.


Councillor Legendre notes that many city governments in North America have given themselves independent auditing tools and used them effectively and well. Examples include Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, San Jose and Seattle. He wonders at a proposition which ensures "cooperation" at the price of a clear and independent reporting relationship. Councillor Legendre calls on his colleagues to protect the tax dollars of citizens by installing a credible, rigorous review mechanism at the very start of the new municipal administration.


For further details, Councillor Jacques Legendre can be reached at the office at 580-2483.

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