City makes poor use of vehicle tracking system: audit

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This article was published 16/09/2021 (1640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE City of Winnipeg is barely benefiting from a vehicle tracking program that cost $1.87 million.

Winnipeg adopted a citywide vehicle tracking program in 2015, in part to monitor how much gas its fleet uses.

As of March, 2,151 DataTrail devices had been installed on city-owned vehicles, such as cars and half-tons. Police, fire and paramedic cruisers, and buses, don’t have the trackers.

The city uses the technology for data on speed, hard stops, engine idle time and location of vehicles.

However, the system doesn’t have the functionality needed to meet all of its expected uses, the city’s audit department found.

Additionally, there’s no person to oversee the program’s use citywide, which has contributed to inconsistent use between departments.

“We identified at the onset that we were encountering some issues (of) the quality and consistency of data that was in the system,” said Bryan Mansky, the city’s deputy auditor.

Winnipeg lacks a policy and minimum standards of use for the technology’s day-to-day monitoring, which has led to confusion, Mansky found.

“There has been minimal progress towards the overall… program goals of reduced idle time and increased efficiency of vehicle and resource deployment,” the audit reads.

Winnipeg’s chief administrative officer should head a “needs assessment,” Mansky said.

“It’s looking at that needs assessment and saying, ‘What type of information do we want out of this system?’ Then it’s evaluating against the current system — can that system deliver?” Mansky said. “Once you do that gap analysis, then it’s determining what are the next steps.”

Mansky also audited the Board of Revision, which rules on tax assessment appeals.

“We cannot confirm the fairness or objectivity of the board’s evaluation of evidence in the assessment appeal process,” says the audit report.

When a Winnipegger appeals a property’s valuation or taxation, they present their information to the board, and the city does the same.

The board gives its decision, but there’s no written record of how its members reached their conclusions.

“I think it’s frustrating for both sides,” Mansky said. “There’s no opportunity for lessons learned.”

The board listened to 4,300 appeals in 2020. In 95 per cent of cases, a property’s assessed value was decreased.

At the time of the audit, the board had lowered the total assessed value of the 2020 property assessment roll by about $1.7 billion. It resulted in an approximate 2.6 per cent jump in the mill rate.

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca