During his first appearance at a city policy meeting Sept. 16, Sudbury's auditor general managed to gain unanimous support from city council.
Brian Bigger, who was hired for the newly-created position on June 8, had his department's charter approved. The charter ensures his independence by limiting his contact with city managers. He will report only to to city council.
In the charter it states the auditor general's department will not engage in any activity which “could be reasonably construed to compromise the independence of the office of the auditor general.”
The department will have “unrestricted access to all activities, records, systems, property, meetings and personnel necessary to conduct audits.”
The charter was approved after more than an hour of discussion, and a bylaw regarding the auditor general's department will be on the agenda for next week's city council meeting.
With a $10,000 budget increase, the operating cost of the auditor general's department in 2010 will be $331,300.
“The additional budget is to establish the audit department,” Bigger said.
“Ninety per cent of the audit budget is really for salary and benefits, so there's very little room for additional expenses. Council anticipated that I would hire two or three auditors and I'm in the process now of hiring an auditor. I just want to make sure that I have the budget to have a sustainable audit function.”
The auditor general's department will draw 0.065 per cent of the city's annual budget, which Bigger said is on par with other municipalities.
“The 0.065 per cent (of the city's annual budget, which will go towards the auditor general's department) is very similar to what Ottawa and other municipalities have put in place,” Bigger said. “Ottawa, I believe, is at 0.8 per cent.”
The auditor general said he wants to make sure he has the proper budget to maintain his department.
“With only two staff, my concern would be if there were a significant shift in funding or desire to reduce our budget significantly, I would have to let our auditor go.”
Bigger said he's been “very busy in establishing the department; policies, procedures, meeting with council and senior management and really getting a good sense of the organization.
“I've also been setting up job descriptions and going through a fairly basic process of recruitment for an auditor.”
Mayor John Rodriguez joked that the city had done things backwards, hiring Bigger before creating the charter for his position, or setting up his department.
Rodriguez said the charter, once backed up by the auditor general's bylaws, will outline Bigger's job within the city.
“I think the audit charter very clearly lays out what the responsibilities and conditions and staffing under which he will be operating. So now we have a charter for the auditor general and we'll back it up with a set of bylaws that incorporate the position of auditor general in the city.”
Councillors debated the ethics of some wording in the charter, the ranking of certain priorities and generally, their opinions on what the auditor general will be responsible for.
“I don't believe an auditor general's role is just to crunch numbers,” Bigger said. “Obviously I will be using my experience and knowledge to evaluate the organization and I will be setting what I consider the highest risk areas as topics for future audits.”
Although Bigger didn't allude to any concerns or personal agendas he would champion, he said, “I guess through that process (of auditing chosen high-risk areas), it would reflect my interests and my concerns.”
The mayor said Bigger's job is an important one.
“There always is a need for transparency, especially where taxpayer dollars are spent,” he said. “And I think the auditor general position is an assurance to our taxpayers that the money they pay in taxes to the city is spent with an eye to due diligence and that they get value for the money we spend on their behalf.”
Bigger agreed with the mayor that his job will be essential to the city.
“I think it's essential to have an audit function, or people who have the ability to be independent and objective in their review of any organization, whether it's a municipality or a private sector organization. There's a lot of value in having that function.”
When it comes to auditing “outside agencies,” such as the Greater Sudbury Police Services board Bigger said he believes “the scope of my review in those agencies is actually fairly limited, but I wanted to make sure that any agency that is receiving funding in the city, especially ones that have audit rights, were included within my scope.”
The auditor general said his job will primarily be to help the city meet its goals with financial efficiency.
“Council has been fairly clear when they decided to hire a 'value for money auditor,' that's what they were calling this position back in 2007 when it was approved,” Bigger said. “Their focus was on looking for opportunities, deficiencies (and) looking for value for money in operations.
“I wouldn't call the role being a 'watchdog,' really what I'm trying to do is I'm representing the citizens of Sudbury through assisting council in achieving their objectives for the city. I guess in short, I'm just looking for the best results for the city.”
Bigger has not built his audit plan yet, so he didn't comment on what his priorities would be as the auditor general.
“I'm still talking to people and finding new opportunities for review,” he said.
Bigger is hoping to present his audit plan to city council at the end of November.
“What I established today (appearing before council) is that I need to complete a few audits first and get some management responses. I believe my first summary review to council will be at the end of June, 2010.”