ABQ inspector general needs boost

The City of Albuquerque has a proposed budget that includes an increase of $45 million for fiscal 2019, which runs from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. The increased amount provides either new funding or additional funding that will go to various departments and programs.

The proposed budget included a $227,000 increase for the Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA), bringing the total to nearly $1.1 million.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) protects the public trust by providing oversight and ensuring accountability for the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. The OIG requested $200,000 additional funding to hire an experienced investigator and data analyst — unfortunately, it wasn’t included in the initial draft budget. The proposed budget is $375,000 — only one-third of the amount of the CPOA budget.

The CPOA has responsibility for conducting investigations involving allegations of excessive force, officer-involved shootings and civilian complaints per the city ordinance that established the CPOA; the police department currently has fewer than 900 sworn officers. The same ordinance provides CPOA with a fixed percentage of the police department’s budget and also provides authorization for independent legal counsel to avoid conflicts of interest. The CPOA has eight staff members, which includes investigators, an analyst and an administrative support position.

In contrast to the CPOA, the OIG has the responsibility for conducting investigations of allegations involving employee misconduct, corruption — such as bribery, conflicts of interest, kickbacks, etc. — employee embezzlement, misappropriation of cityowned property and, perhaps the most significant potential for loss to the taxpayer, procurement fraud. The OIG has responsibility for oversight of more than 20 city departments and about 6,000 city employees, and stands ready to protect a city budget that is nearly $1 billion.

Unlike the CPOA, the OIG does not receive a fixed percentage of the city’s budget — against recommended model language for oversight agencies — and does not have independent legal counsel — also against recommended model language, thus creating a possible conflict-of-interest situation. The OIG has only two investigators plus the inspector general and has not increased in size since it became an independent office in 2011. The office has never been sufficiently staffed even while under the direction of the Office of Internal Audit beginning in 2005.

The Albuquerque OIG is the smallest department in city government, one of the smallest municipal OIGs in the country, and it is just over one-tenth the size of the New Mexico Department of Transportation OIG, which only oversees one-third the number of employees with a similarly sized budget.

The Albuquerque taxpayer deserves more oversight and accountability of his or her hard-earned tax dollars. The OIG needs more resources. The office needs more experience and expertise in the area of procurement fraud and data analysis, which both the police department and the CPOA are afforded.

Doesn’t increased spending require increased oversight and accountability?