Back and forth claims from the city auditor and the city manager continued Thursday, leaving at least one alderman wondering who to believe.
City auditor Tracy McTaggart presented a report to the audit committee addressing Owen Tobert’s claims that the auditor’s overlooked electronic files accounted for $747 million.
“The auditors asked for all files … that was regardless of medium,” said McTaggart, adding that her staff reviewed all the files they were allowed to access.
Following the presentation, Ald. Ric McIver said he doesn’t know who to believe at this point.
“We’re getting different information from different people which is very concerning because particularly when you’re talking about the auditor and the administration,” he said. “The people that council depends on should have their facts straight.”
In order to ensure a balanced result, council has decided to pursue an external audit of the city.
McTaggart said she supports the external auditor; however, she said the responsibility could have been delegated to her office as well.
“Both should get to the same result,” she said.
While Tobert has said that almost all of the missing documents have been accounted for, McTaggart said she has yet to see them and will be making a request for those files.
Although there are disputes over how the conclusions were reached, McTaggart said it’s important to note that the two parties agree on one thing — there is no evidence of fraud at the city.
