In the April 30, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene City Councilor for Ward 8 Chris Pryor writes in a letter:
Am I afraid of an elected auditor? Not really. It won’t affect me as an elected official.
The elected auditor has no authority over the Eugene City Council.
Actually, the auditor doesn’t really have the authority to make any changes.
Read the measure.
No number of audits is specified. No amount of money is listed to be saved. No one monitors the operation.
I like performance auditing, I just want to get something for my money. Measure 20-283 asks for a lot of taxpayer money every year for someone to write reports and post them on a website. There’s campaign rhetoric and there’s actual charter language.
Read the measure.
The proponents keep citing council policy decisions as the reason they want an elected auditor. They’re council policy decisions; the auditor doesn’t audit them. I get that some people don’t like our council’s decisions. Elect new councilors, then — don’t add more elected officials and a $670,000 tax hit.
I’m not involved in some council conspiracy to scuttle the auditor conversation.
That’s bogus.
I’m not afraid of auditing. I just want effective auditing. I don’t believe this is a good use of your public money.
Simple.