The District of Sechelt has been picked as one of the first municipalities to be given a performance audit through the office of the auditor general for local government (AGLG) along with 17 other municipalities in B.C.
On May 29 AGLG Basia Ruta announced the selected municipalities along with the audit topics her office intends to focus on.
Sechelt falls within the "learnings from local government capital procurement projects and asset management programs" audit topic.
Sechelt Mayor John Henderson said it made sense that Ruta chose to audit the District within that category.
"We've got the big project with wastewater treatment. It's an obvious thing for them to come in and see how we've done it and see what we can all learn from it," he said. "It makes sense to work with an organization or a community that's being bold and innovative and trying different things, and we're certainly doing that, so I'm very satisfied that she's decided to pick us."
Along with the District of Sechelt, the District of North Vancouver and the cities of Cranbrook, Rossland, Dawson Creek and Campbell River will see audits in the same category.
Another audit topic is "achieving value for money in operational procurement." The municipalities of Vernon, Delta, Revelstoke, Comox Valley, Fraser-Fort George and West Vancouver will see audits take place in this category.
A third topic area titled "local government performance in managing policing agreements and police budget oversight" will see audits take place in the cities of Port Alberni, Surrey, Merritt, Williams Lake, Victoria and New Westminster.
Performance audits in all three categories will begin shortly with a March 31, 2014 target to release findings to the public.
"These audit topics and the selection of local governments were developed following best efforts for a comprehensive performance audit planning process that began shortly after I began work as AGLG early this year," Ruta said in a press release. "This process included extensive consultation with local governments and other stakeholders on issues most relevant to them in their efforts to deliver value for the tax dollars they spend."
Two additional audit topics were announced by Ruta this week, "local government's role in ensuring clean drinking water" and "managing the inherent risks of limited human resources within small local governments." No municipalities have been selected for audit in these areas yet.
Find out more at www.aglg.ca.
