An audit of the city’s new police headquarters building can easily be done before the next civic election in October, according to one expert.
Graham Lane joined the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) at City Hall on Monday to say an audit into the Graham Avenue building’s $75 million in cost overruns could be completed by the fall.
“The bottom line is, if council wants the audit completed and made public before the election this fall, it can easily be done,” Lane said. “Unlike other audits the city has engaged, such as the one for the four fire halls and several real estate transactions, an audit of the police headquarters’ construction process is for a single project.”
Lane is a chartered accountant and past chair of the Public Utilities Board.
“Some have suggested an audit will cost a small fortune and take a year to complete, but that’s simply not true,” said CTF Prairie director Colin Craig. “An audit can be delivered for a reasonable cost and within a short time frame if council and the administration make it a priority.”
City councillors buckled to public pressure to call for an audit in the first place, even convincing Mayor Sam Katz to support a review of the project.
