Bill 202 Position of a Municipal Auditor General
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association urge the Government of Alberta, in lieu of creating yet another Provincial authority with accompanying overhead, to establish an annual budget of $350,000 that municipal governments can voluntarily access to initiate their own independent performance audits.
WHEREAS Bill 202 proposes to establish the position of a Municipal Auditor General;
WHEREAS the purpose of the position is explained to “... conduct random audits of municipalities and make recommendation respecting their financial statements and any systems or programs related to the disbursement of public money”; and
WHEREAS some Honourable Members of the Government of Alberta during debate noted that “a performance audit would be particularly beneficial for Alberta’s rural municipalities who may not have the capabilities to conduct an independent performance audit themselves”;
WHEREAS this new department would very much be a duplication of existing work currently required to be completed each year by all Alberta municipalities in complying to existing legislation under the MGA;
WHEREAS all orders of government should be seeking ways to reduce duplications of effort and the eliminating the associated burden to tax payers across Alberta where ever such duplication of effort is found;
WHEREAS the position of the Municipal Auditor General was neither requested by Alberta municipalities, nor was there a request by Alberta municipal governments to the Government of Alberta to provide such a Provincially-operated performance audit service; and
WHEREAS this new department would initially be estimated to require a budget line of, at minimum, $700,000 per year.