The new auditor general for local governments (AGLG) Basia Ruta will decide at the end of this month which municipalities to audit first and the District of Sechelt could be in her sights.
"Certainly there's been lots of interest communicated to us with respect to Sechelt," said Mark Tatchell senior advisor for the AGLG.
Tatchell said some Sechelt residents have been calling and writing to Ruta expressing concerns about things like Sechelt's move to build a costly new sewage treatment plant on Ebbtide Street.
"We're well aware of the issues," he said.
If chosen as one of the first municipalities audited by Ruta, Sechelt Mayor John Henderson said his council would be "fine" with the decision.
"First of all the AGLG has a challenging role to first of all to determine how to be of best use to local governments. I think that's the important thing to remember, that the legislation is drafted in a way that the work that they do is intended to provide benefits to local governments, to provide them with ideas and possible approaches that would perhaps save us money, save other communities money, it may be to improve the economies of scale and that kind of thing," Henderson said. "Specifically if the auditor general would like to choose Sechelt as one of the first that would be fine."
The AGLG will conduct audits of local government operations and provide recommendations regarding economy, efficiency and effectiveness. While the audits are not specifically aimed at financial figures, they are meant to benefit communities by making sure local governments are maximizing the money taxpayers give them.
The audit themes Ruta will explore include economic development, land use and transportation planning and management, emergency management and protective services, environmental programs and services, fiscal and sustainability planning, capacity and internal operations, infrastructure asset management and emerging issues.
The specific audit topics however, won't be made public until the end of May when the municipalities selected for Ruta's first audits will also be announced.
Regardless of what municipalities are selected, Tatchell said no information will be released to the public until the audits are finished.
"Once the audit commences all of the information is considered confidential so neither the audit team from our office nor the local government involved in the audit is permitted under the legislation under the Auditor General for Local Government Act to disclose any of the records or information that form part of the audit," he said noting reports will be made public after audits are finished. "We want to make sure that information is shared broadly across the province so that local governments can learn from practices we've confirmed are good practices, recommended practices that should be adopted."
To see the AGLG's service plan, which outlines things like audit themes and goals and objectives go to www.aglg.ca.
