Austin Energy, which manages billings for city utility customers, provides reduced utility bills for more than 35,000 electric, water and wastewater customers with low incomes. The Customer Assistance Program offers discounts that average about $650 a year for residential customers who participate in a variety of programs, including Medicaid, food stamps, the Children’s Health Insurance […]
Office of the City Auditor
This city department is created by the city’s charter in order to establish and ensure “accountability transparency, and a culture of continuous improvement in city operations.”
Posted inCity Hall
Rodriguez pleads guilty to misuse of federal funds, falsifying records
Frank Rodriguez, who served as a senior policy adviser to Mayor Steve Adler beginning in 2015, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to misapply federal funds and falsifying records “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence an investigation into a matter within the jurisdiction of an agency of the United States.” According to a statement […]
Posted inAustin
Audit praises city’s Covid assistance efforts, with rental payment results mixed
An audit found mixed results in the execution of some of the city’s programs created with federal money to provide assistance with the many impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. A report last week from the Office of the City Auditor found that four programs administered by the Economic Development Department performed well according to city […]
Posted inCity Hall
Scathing audit finds city unprepared for Winter Storm Uri
Austin city auditors found the city was unprepared to respond to the impacts of Winter Storm Uri because planners failed to adequately consider the risks of a severe winter storm, leading to widespread disaster. That was a major conclusion of an audit released Monday. Although the city faced a cascade of dangers, auditors found that […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit finds fault with city’s tech purchase system
City procedures for purchasing technology are not coordinated, timely or sufficiently clear and do not ensure that city resources are secure and protected, according to a report from the Office of the City Auditor issued this month. Auditors also said that the city “does not have a good understanding of its needs which may result […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit finds golf chief accepted favors from employee
The superintendent for the Parks and Recreation Department’s golf complex accepted favors from an employee he directly supervises, according to a recently released investigative report from the Office of the City Auditor. After receiving an allegation that Nick Smitham, the golf complex supervisor, directed a PARD employee to repair Smitham’s personal vehicles, members of the […]
Posted inParks
PARD needs more funding, audit update shows
Since audits in 2016 and 2017, the Parks and Recreation Department has taken actions to address the management of its resources as well as cash handling problems. However, according to a follow-up report by the Office of the City Auditor, the city’s “funding priorities may continue to constrain the department’s ability to effectively offer its […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit: City failing to hire equal numbers of women
While the city has achieved its overall goal of hiring racial and ethnic minorities in numbers equal to the local population, only 39 percent of Austin’s Municipal Civil Service workforce are women, compared to 50 percent of the Austin-Round Rock area population, according to a report by the Office of the City Auditor. Municipal Civil […]
Posted inPolice
Council members seek better system to help troubled officers
In response to an audit that found Austin Police Department is using an outdated system to identify police officers in need of help, interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon told the City Council Audit & Finance Committee Wednesday that while his department is aware of the problems with its Guidance Advisory Program, or GAP, that does […]
Posted inPolice
Audit finds APD failing officers who need help
The Austin Police Department’s system for identifying officers in need of help and connecting them with support or wellness services is failing both the officers and the department, according to an audit released Tuesday. The audit, which was conducted by the Office of the City Auditor, found that the early intervention system used by APD […]
Posted inCity Hall
Report: Ex-AE employee misused city resources, lied to auditors
An investigation by the Office of the City Auditor found that a former utility accounts specialist at Austin Energy misused his city computer and email to benefit his secondary employment and failed to do work assigned to him, forcing the utility to use other employees to do that work. John Harnsberry, the former employee, “was […]
Posted inCity Hall
Convoluted audit tale shows conflicts of interest, but no harm
Two city employees violated city conflict-of-interest rules when one of them routed funds meant for the city through a nonprofit he set up. However, according to an audit conducted by the Office of the City Auditor, the funds were sent on to the city and neither the employees nor the nonprofit made money from the […]