Auditor’s job not fixing all problems

In the March 26, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene resident and former Eugene Ward 1 City Councilor George Brown writes in a letter:

Once again, Brian Wanty displays a serious misunderstanding of the role an elected auditor plays in city government (“Auditor hasn’t helped Portland,” March 22).

He lists a series of problems in Portland (affordable housing shortage, increased traffic congestion, etc.) and blames Portland’s elected auditor for not immediately “solving” them. He questions the utility of having an elected auditor at all.

Following this tortured logic, one could say: “Portland has had a police force for more than 100 years, but there is still crime — so why even have a police department?”

Apparently he doesn’t grasp that the duty of Portland’s elected auditor is not to solve all urban problems, but to conduct financial and performance audits across the full spectrum of city operations in order to find efficiencies, root out fraud and waste, make suggestions for corrective actions, and provide accurate information to the mayor and city commission, to the chief administrative officer and to the public so that they are better positioned to address those problems.

And that will be the role of Eugene’s independent elected auditor as well.

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