City council will learn the true cost of the transit strike nearly a year after it started.
The city’s auditor general is anticipating that the audit of the cost of the strike will be presented to council on Nov. 25.
The approach to the audit would be similar to that used for examining the 2006 sewage spill in that it would be conducted using internal resources supplemented by external technical expertise as required, but would not exceed the existing budget of the office.
During the 53-day transit strike, OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier estimated that the city was saving around $3 million per week while not operating the buses.
After the strike, it was revealed that OC Transpo was forecasting a $22.7 million budgetary shortfall for 2009 that forced the city to cancel purchasing 25 new buses.
