TEAM Burnaby and Burnaby Municipal Greens candidates have said they would support a municipal auditor general if voted in.
The Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Ida Chong, is working on creating the new position of municipal auditor general of B.C.
TEAM candidate Jeffrey Chiu announced his support of the new office in mid-October.
"Burnaby should welcome an independent set of eyes with respect to major expenditures," he said in a press release, adding that the city has taken on "significant" costs with projects such as the Burnaby Lake dredging and the city's new website and internal computer system.
"Value for money auditing is an important tool in assessing major expenditures," he added.
The City of Burnaby should support the position, especially since the provincial government would fund it, Chiu said.
"I can't see why the current mayor and council would oppose this initiative," said Chiu.
"People recognize the importance of the federal and provincial auditors general in providing independent financial oversight to senior government; why would local government oppose this scrutiny?"
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said in September that establishing the position would be a waste of money as there's no clear reason to do so.
It is redundant to create a new position when overseeing municipal spending could be covered by the Inspector of Municipalities, or by expanding the B.C. Auditor General's role, he said.
Municipal governments are already required to run budgets without a deficit, and none have gone bankrupt or gone into deficit in B.C., he added.
"There's no problem that's been identified," Corrigan said. "It is simply the premier trying to gain some cheap political points by pointing a finger at the municipalities and saying they aren't well run.
"Exactly the opposite is true," he added.
The Union of British Columbia Municipalities' president, Barbara Steele, also said in September that the union doesn't see a need for the new position.
But cities should have an (preferably independent) auditor look through the books, according to Carrie McLaren, council candidate with the Burnaby Municipal Greens.
"As long as the auditor does not cost the cities any extra money," she wrote in an email to the NOW, "then I would be for it."
The Business Council of B.C. has also said it would support the position.
"We live in an increasingly competitive world, with more and more demands on our personal and corporate pocket books," said Greg D'Avignon, president and CEO of the council, in a press release.
"The auditor general role at the federal and provincial levels has been very positive for taxpayers; we believe a similar role at the municipal level can ensure we use best practices, find efficiencies and manage costs."
The council's executive vice-president and chief policy officer Jock Finlayson confirmed on Wednesday that the council hopes to see the new position created to provide more oversight on municipal finances. "We do support a municipal auditor general," he said.
The auditor general would perform value for money performance audits annually, according to a press release from Chong, to "help local governments in their stewardship of community assets, to identify best practices, and to provide another measure of transparency and accountability for taxpayers."
However the auditor general would not make or overrule policy decisions of elected officials, call into question the merits of program policies, make binding recommendations or impose requirements, or duplicate or displace current municipal requirements, according to the release.
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