The City of Brampton’s internal auditors have tagged a recent report with an “Immediate Action Required” notice, the strongest possible red flag it can raise.
It signals key controls have either not been designed properly or are not operating effectively and require corrective action right away in order to prevent further issues or loss of taxpayer money.
According to the audit, Brampton does not have proper policies and procedures in place to manage the millions of dollars in tools and small equipment its staff rely on to carry out their jobs across the municipality.
The findings paint a picture of a City that views small pieces of equipment, even those which cost as much as $45,000, as expendable.
There are no policies for managing the condition of these frequently used pieces of equipment. Items are typically purchased without formal documentation, stored in unsecured locations, and there is no formalized inventory for the City to even know how many pieces of equipment it owns, which ones are out for repairs, or those that could potentially be missing. This is made more problematic by each department purchasing equipment in siloes,…
