The auditor general of Montreal has just raised problems in the way the city maintains its heritage buildings, manages its finances and grants grants.
Its annual report was tabled Monday at City Council.
Auditor General Michèle Galipeau, who will end her seven-year term this summer, has determined that the City of Montreal does not know the state of its heritage real estate, which poses problems for its maintenance.
“The City of Montreal does not have a complete portrait of the municipal and private heritage buildings on its territory”, indicates its report of nearly 500 pages.
There is a “deficiency in the maintenance and conservation of municipal heritage buildings,” the document continues. “Preventive maintenance programs specific to municipal heritage buildings have not been established”, contrary to the commitment she had made.
In terms of finances, Michèle Galipeau deplored that the 2022 financial statements have not yet been adopted by the municipal council, while the year 2023 is well underway.
We are still concerned about the loss of expertise in the Service des finances related to the past and future departures of various key people for the preparation of the financial statements. The shortage of experienced staff in other City departments involved in this process is also of concern. These elements had repercussions on the delivery schedule of the documents and their quality as well as on the performance of our audit work.
Excerpt from the annual report of the Auditor General of the City of Montreal, Michèle Galipeau
As for the subsidies granted by the City of Montreal to non-profit organizations active on its territory, Ms.me Galipeau points to numerous compliance issues.
“Although the City of Montreal has put in place a set of frameworks, the central services are not able to provide a documented demonstration of impartiality in the granting of financial contributions to non-profit organizations and of respect of these frameworks for all the contributions examined,” she wrote. “Our work has brought to light shortcomings at each stage of the life cycle of the granting and management of contributions to NPOs by central services. »
“In order to ensure the impartiality, transparency and uniformity of the granting and management of financial contributions to non-profit organizations, we recommend that the Direction générale update the administrative framework in connection with the granting and management of financial contributions to non-profit organizations,” she added.
Auditor General Michèle Galipeau and the Plante administration will comment on the content of the report on Tuesday.