Sadly from another Rick Bell column, but the Audit is out.
Quote:
Meanwhile, we have rude reality, the 61-page investigation of city auditor Tracy McTaggart.
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The auditor looks at contracts over three years where the total cost goes from $212 million to $959 million and the documentation of why these increases happen is, in many cases, “missing from the contract files.” City administration says the hikes can be chalked up to the boom.
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The audit team goes over 26 contracts with no bids totalling $189 million and finds “insufficient evidence on file to substantiate” 22 of them.
There are purchase orders over more than $151 million without a proper paper trail.
“We concluded the city was not always able to demonstrate that best value was received for taxpayer dollars,” says the report.
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Ald. Brian Pincott, head of the audit group, admits the city was “loosy goosey all over the place.
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http://www.calgarysun.com/news/colum.../13957991.html