The City of Windsor isn't going to be sending out a job ad to hire a dedicated auditor general anytime soon.
Mayor Drew Dilkens was the tie breaking vote in rejecting the hiring of a local auditor general in favour of lobbying the province to set up an auditor general's office meant to serve all Ontario municipalities, with the province footing the bill.
Councillor Bill Marra pushed council to approve creating a local auditor general's office as way to improve accountability and transparency at city hall.
"There are very real examples of the past where I think it would've come in handy. This was meant to be a proactive move to create a go-forward strategy and create opportunities for continuous improvement," says Marra, whose notice of motion set the stage for Thursday night's debate in council chambers.
Mayor Dilkens doesn't see the need for an auditor general's office in Windsor and feels the city's current auditing model works just fine.
"I do not believe that spending this money will produce any material benefit for the taxpayer," says Dilkens.
Administration pegged the cost of creating an auditor general's office at $286,000 a year on top of the $300,000 a year paid to auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. As part of the discussion, council approved extending its contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers by four years in a split vote, going further than the two-year extension administration had recommended.
"This is a way to spend money [hiring an auditor general] that not only improves the corporation, but earns us the confidence of the people and the people who elected us here and that's very, very, very important," says Councillor Rino Bortolin.
On the other side of the council table and the debate, Councillor Fred Francis says hiring an auditor general for the city wasn't a top priority of his constituents in the last election.
"Three things I heard at the doors: jobs, we need jobs, we need to create jobs. Another thing I heard at the door was, 'You know what Fred? I pay too much in taxes,'" says Francis. "Third thing I heard is, 'Can you fix my street? What are we doing for infrastructure spending?'"
A motion at the beginning of the meeting by Councillor Irek Kusmierczyk to defer the debate on hiring a local auditor general until Monday when the discussion would be able to be televised was defeated.
On the vote to lobby the province for a provincial auditor general, Kusmierczyk wasn't too optimistic about its benefits to the city.
"Windsor better get in line soon because there are 443 municipalities that are going to be vying for the attention of the provincial auditor general," says Kusmierczyk, adding he will continue to advocate for an auditor general's office to be established at city hall.
