Councillors look at reducing audits on expenses

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This article was published 19/06/2020 (2082 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A council committee has voted to explore ways to reduce audits on councillors’ ward expenses, despite previous concerns doing so would cut oversight on spending.

Council’s governance committee voted Wednesday to remove the requirement that all councillors’ ward allowances be audited every year. The committee also voted in favour of ordering a report that lists options to audit councillors “on a rotational basis” instead, while ensuring each councillor is audited at least once during each term of office.

Council has final approval on the change.

The initial decision came after city auditor Bryan Mansky told the committee Winnipeg was the only major city that audited all councillor expenses every year, as of 2017.

Coun. Devi Sharma, the committee’s chairperson, stressed ward expenses will remain subject to intense scrutiny, even if fewer audits occur.

“The expenses that council makes, I believe, are heavily scrutinized and they’re posted (online) in a very transparent manner… On a monthly basis, detailed expense reports are available for the public,” said Sharma.

Mansky offered the committee a few examples of how rotating audits could be conducted. For example, five to seven councillors could be randomly selected for audits each year, without warning.

Sharma said the changes, if approved, could save money.

“We’re just trying to incorporate some level of checks and balances, in terms of an audit, but (also find) some value for money,” she said.

In February, the city auditor asked council to eliminate all annual ward allowance audits. Instead of approving that change, council’s executive policy committee sent the request back to the governance committee for further review.

At the time, Mayor Brian Bowman expressed concern the change could reduce oversight of elected officials’ spending, noting he considers audits an important safeguard for taxpayers.

On Thursday, the mayor declined to say how he’d vote on the matter but said he continues to generally support expense audits for elected officials.

“I believe auditing is appropriate. It ensures greater openness and accountability for elected officials. My expenses are audited and I don’t see a reason why councillors couldn’t also have theirs audited,” said Bowman.

While the ward allowance audits did not raise concerns this year, they have sparked questions over some councillors’ spending in the past.

In 2017, the annual audit revealed Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) had used a city-issued credit card to cover $57,000 of personal expenses over the previous two years, costs the city confirmed were paid back in full.

The practice of councillors billing personal expenses to city credit cards was officially banned in October 2016.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca