Columbia mayor asks for state audit of city budget

“I want to make sure that we have an independent look, not an auditing firm that is hired by management, but a truly independent watchdog like the state auditor to come in and take a look at the city’s finances and make sure that we’re doing everything properly,” Treece said.

Treece said he hoped to have a resolution on the agenda at the council’s first meeting in March. Fourth Ward Councilman Ian Thomas said he would support a resolution asking the auditor review the budget.

City leaders, including City Manager Mike Matthes, have openly discussed raising property taxes to fund public safety services. Such an increase would need voter approval, and voters rejected a phased-in 30-cent increase in 2014.

UPDATE: ABC 17 News reached out to the auditor’s office to find out how much it might cost for an audit for Columbia.

Officials said they wouldn’t be able to estimate a cost until the city passes the ordinance or resolution requesting the audit that also specifies which sections the city would want the office to dig into.

Treece said money might come from the funds the city already uses for its annual financial audit.

“We need to determine if it would be a substitute for that financial audit or in addition to,” he said. “If it’s an audit of Water and Light, it would make sense to pay for those with Water and Light proceeds.”

ORIGINAL STORY: Mayor Brian Treece wants the state auditor’s office to take a look at the city’s budget.

Treece discussed the idea at the city council meeting on Monday night. He said the audit could find potential cost-saving measures, which could help further fund public safety.

In an interview after the meeting, Treece said the audit would serve as a “performance audit” rather than the annual “financial audit” the city goes through every year.

The Finance Department pays for a review of the city budget to make sure every dollar is accounted for, but the performance audit Treece wants would find all sources and uses for money in the budget.

Dale Roberts, executive director of the Columbia Police Officers’ Association, said an audit “will resolve any doubts that may exist regarding the city’s finances.”

Lt. Travis Gregory, with Columbia Professional Firefighters, echoed those feelings. He said the audit would show people in Columbia how tax dollars are spent.

“The men and women of the Columbia Professional Firefighters, Local 1055 believe that the request being made is the only way to begin to regain the trust of the taxpaying citizens of the City of Columbia and show the transparency that they desire and deserve,” Gregory wrote in a statement.

State auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat from Columbia, agreed in January to audit the city of St. Louis after the Board of Aldermen there approved a resolution asking her office to do so. Galloway’s office estimated the cost of the audit at $1.25 to $2 million and could take three years, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Treece did not expect an audit of Columbia to cost anywhere close to that of St. Louis. The audit, Treece said, could focus on specific portions of the budget or for a certain period of time, if the council desired.

“That impacts not only the cost of the audit, but the time period of getting it done,” Treece said.