City council orders probe into Finance Department

The City Council on Monday ordered a complete investigation into the operations of its Finance Department and the terms, form and scope of the probe will be crafted immediately with the assistance of the Auditor General’s Office.

The investigation is expected to be thorough and wide ranging and will take in every stage of the current processes of the Treasurer’s Department, a press release from the City Council said.

At the first statutory meeting of the year on Monday, the release stated, the Mayor and Councillors of the City deliberated on a motion that alluded to a number of areas of concern, including apparent inconsistency of the salaries and wages register and the seeming unreliability of the property rates collection system.

The City Treasurer’s Department provides financial services to the City Council, and its other municipal departments and agencies. The department is supposed to effectively manage day-to-day financial transactions, including general accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable and the payroll. The department is also responsible for the production of yearly financial statements for the City.

The motion aims at ensuring that the Finance Department is managed in accordance with accepted accounting and financial management principles and it was passed without dissent, the release concluded.