IN a bid to increase municipal accountability, the B.C. government introduced legislation to create the office of Auditor General for Local Government Thursday.
While chambers of commerce have applauded hiring independent auditors to examine municipal spending, the move has met with opposition from many mayors and councillors who see the office as an expensive intrusion on local autonomy.
Referring to the office as a "hair-brained scheme," District of North Vancouver Coun. Alan Nixon stated that municipal budgets are stretched by supporting social agencies that should be funded by the provincial government.
"Unlike senior governments, municipalities are forbidden by law from running operating deficits!" Nixon wrote in a letter to the News.
While Nixon opposes the plan, West Vancouver mayor-elect Michael Smith characterized the office as potentially efficient and helpful. "Logically, I have no idea why anybody would object to it," Smith said.
"The reality is, the majority of mayors and councillors in B.C. don't have any, or certainly not a lot, of business or management experience," Smith said.
While he doesn't oppose the office, City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto questioned its relevancy.
"Personally, I don't see a lot of value in it," he said. "Our books are all audited every year and the auditors are actually in right now."
Political interference from the office is also a fear, according to Mussatto.
"It can't delve into the political decisions," he said. "I think it would be tremendously bad for democracy if appointed officials are infringing upon decisions of a democratically elected council."
The office is designed to provide neutral, non-binding advice, according to a press release from Premier Christy Clark.
"It will be up to local governments to decide what action to take," the release stated.
Despite the assurance from the province, Nixon stated the office represents a risk to infrastructure.
"Are you prepared to have some bureaucrat from Victoria dictate your quality of life?" Nixon asked. "Are you prepared to have that same bureaucrat dictate the quality of our roads or in-ground infrastructure based on pure financial considerations, as opposed to engineering standards?"
The office is much more benign than that, according to Smith.
"Any help we can get towards meeting our goal of spending every tax dollar wisely is a good thing," he said. "The people doing the work would be sharing best practices, which can't be anything but a good thing for municipalities."
The office will likely not be active until next year, according to Chris Olsen, Clark's press secretary.
"The target period is the spring, because the legislation needs to be passed, and that'll be February, probably," he said. "The sooner the better."
The office has the potential to find major accounting problems, but may simply be a nuisance to local governments, according to Gabrielle Loren, president of the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and a former Canada Revenue Agency auditor.
"The one problem that I always find whenever you assign an auditor to do any task, is that it's a big disruption to the flow of what's going on in the business," she said.
Loren said much of her auditing work resulted in uncovering insignificant accounting glitches.
"Nine times out of 10 you don't get a lot of good information that you can use," she said. "I don't think it's a bad idea, I just wonder how useful it is."
The office should be very useful, according to Anne McMullin, North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce president.
Asked if the A-G for local government's findings might not amount to anything, McMullin replied: "I don't accept that. I think that every jurisdiction can improve."
Mayors and councillors owe it to residents to support the office, according to McMullin.
"All levels of government should welcome any structure that perhaps enhances decision-making in the interests of the taxpayers," she said.
While the office represents another level of scrutiny for municipal governments, McMullin said the province could benefit by having cities share their most effective practices.
"We already do that now," Mussatto said. "Our municipality works very well with other municipalities."
The North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce will be watching the provincial watchdog to make sure the office benefits the community, according to McMullin.
"We will be holding it to task," she said.
