The province's auditor general for local government will be taking a close look at New Westminster's police management and budget during the first round of municipal audits to be completed next spring.
Basia Ruta - who was appointed auditor general for local government in January - announced Thursday that she will be conducting five performance audits on various municipal topics across the province, culminating in reports to be released in March and August, 2014.
New Westminster has been chosen as one of six cities that will be audited on "local government performance in managing policing agreements and police budget oversight," according to a press release.
"The selection of local governments were developed following best efforts for a comprehensive performance audit planning process that began shortly after I began work as (auditor general for local government)," Ruta said in the release. "This process included extensive consultation with local governments and other stakeholders on issues most relevant to them."
There are five topics for the audits, including value for money in operational procurement; managing police agreements and police budget oversight; local government's role in ensuring clean drinking water; capital projects and asset management programs; and managing the risks of limited human resources within small local governments.
The goal of these performance audits are to ensure local governments are doing as much as they can to "deliver value for the tax dollars they spend," Ruta said.
According to the release, for the duration of the audit there will be an audit team sent to New Westminster, which will include government staff as well as contracted auditors.
For more information on the audit process visit www.aglg.ca and follow the links to the AGLG's 2013/14 - 2015/16 service plan.
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