B.C.’s Auditor General For Local Government is targeting several municipalities for audits over the next year, including Surrey, Delta, New Westminster and West Vancouver.
Surrey-based Basia Ruta said value-for-money audits on operational procurement are planned for Delta, West Vancouver, Revelstoke and the regional districts of Fraser-Fort George and Comox Valley.
Surrey will be audited for oversight of the RCMP budget and policing agreement policing. Victoria, New Westminster, Merritt, Port Alberni, and Williams Lake also face policing oversight audits.
Other audits examining capital procurement projects and asset management programs will target North Vancouver District, Cranbrook, Rossland, Sechelt, Dawson Creek and Campbell River.
The initial sets of audits are to be finished by March 31, 2014.
Other audits are still to be announced on how well cities ensure clean drinking water and challenges unique to small, sparsely staffed municipalities.
The AGLG was created by the provincial government despite objections from some B.C. cities who feared it could turn into a witch hunt for waste that failed to take into account differing municipal priorities, and that might duplicate existing audits at their expense.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released a study Wednesday saying municipal spending in Canada’s four biggest cities far outpaces population growth and the rate of inflation.
