Hoping to allay criticism that it is unwisely spending taxpayer
money, Halifax council has hired an auditor general to inspect the
city’s books.
The decision was made in a secret council session last Tuesday, and
no substantial information has been released to the public—we don’t
yet know the name of the person hired, the person’s salary or what
powers the auditor will have. That information is to be released when
the new auditor’s employment contract is signed, but as of press time
the information was still secret.
But during the open council session that followed the secret
decision-making, several councillors referred to the new auditor as
“he,” said that his first day on the job would be September 28 and,
most pointedly, said that his first assignment would be to look at the
police department budget.
A review of the police budget may be warranted, but the fact that
council is dictating the auditor’s actions calls into question the
independence of the position. An independent auditor should have the
freedom to begin investigations as he sees fit, without interference or
direction from politicians.
On the other hand, council opted not to pursue city legal staff’s
suggestion that the city charter be changed so that the auditor’s
reports to council be kept secret from the public. Instead, all auditor
reports will be available to the public.
If the auditor is truly independent, perhaps he should first review
council secrecy. —Tim Bousquet
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.