I Need A Government Job : Auditor General Can’t Find Millions
December 5th, 2006 | by MadHacktress |There are literally tens of thousands of taxpayer-paid-for credit cards sitting in Ontario government worker’s pockets. Some of them, it seems, spend less time in the pocket than others.
Ontario’s Auditor General reported today that he cannot account for millions of dollars in expenditures which have been charged to these cards. According to Mr. McCarter, we tax payers purchased Christmas lights and eyeglasses for an Ontario teacher - these purchases, incidentally, were made while school was out.
I have been entrusted with a credit card twice by employers, and was responsible for auditing the expenditures of employees once. When gets me immediately is the audacity of the people who make these purchases, knowing full well that what they’re doing is wrong, wrong, wrong.
When I worked for neighbourhood services I didn’t let anyone get away with an undocumented penny in expenses. We couldn’t afford it. At that time the organization was in receivership and I was responsible to the board of directors, the members and, especially, the creditors. I was at the very height of anal retention in those days.
The staff at Hydro One are responsible for some 127$-million worth of goods and services for which there are very few credit card receipts. A senior executive had his secretary charge 50,000$ on her card, for his use. Other employees wrote cheques on their cards totaling some 41.2$-million.
Ontario Power Generation didn’t have any receipts at all for 6.5$-million in expenses. 300,000$ was spent by management on gifts, 120,000$ on gift certificates. 8,000$ leather jackets, 40 in total, were handed out as 5-year safety record gifts. None of the gifts was reported as taxable income.
Children’s Aid societies weren’t beyond reproach, either. SUVs costing 59,000$ and expensive all-inclusive Caribbean resort trips were on the list. One staff member was given a 600$ per month car allowance, tax free of course.
It doesn’t stop there: the society paid for an annual gym membership for a senior executive, to the tune of 2,000$. Quarterly personal trainer fees were thrown in for good measure; 650$ bucks a pop.
I don’t know where that sense of entitlement comes from, that allows people with conscience to do things like this. Maybe it’s like crime; you start small and build up. A snack or drink here, then an extra package of printer paper for your home, next thing you know, you’re sweatin’ to the oldies.
I don’t know what sort of process exists for recovery of these funds, but I certainly hope there is some sort of mechanism. To be sure these people need to have their cards revoked and, in many, many cases, their jobs as well.
If you were responsible to a corporate boss you would not be able to get away with such action.
At least not if I was the one running the books.
Entry Filed under: Pure Opinion
Perhaps when Sheila Fraser gets finished auditing the Liberal wreckage in Ottawa she can start on Ontario . . . smells like Liberal Incompetance from where I sit!!!
While I would be inclined to agree with you on one hand, on the other I have to think that the majority of these people have held their positions before the Liberals came in to power.
The audit spans two years of time, and the Liberals have only been in power for three years and sixteen days as of this moment. Certainly the entirety of the public sector listed in the report cannot be Liberal hires - that would be a phenomenal turn-over in just a year… especially considering so many of these are “senior” managers and executives.
madhactress,
agree to a point. As Premier, McGuinty (or whoever is in charge) has a responsibility to have checks and balances to make sure mis-spending of taxpayer money does not happen in govt offices. This is where I blame the provincial liberals.
Hampton on CFRB said that McGuinty has been aware of these cases for the past couple of years- but chose to do nothing. Funny how he speaks out today about setting up an “accountability task force” (read expensive bureaucrasy) the same day the AG released MORE gross mis-spending.
I, for one, am sick of my tax dollars being used for someone else’s “perks”. I have no problem paying taxes- but the govt of the day HAS to be accountable to the taxpayer and make sure their money is being spent appropriately.