City Auditor's Integrity Unit reports 404 allegations in FY25; 11 investigations completed, 8 substantiated

Brian Mullaney, chief of investigations in the City Auditor's office, briefed the Audit and Finance Committee on Oct. 15 about the Integrity Unit's fiscal-year 2025 activity.

Mullaney said the Integrity Unit received 404 allegations in FY25, a 6% increase from the prior year and above the seven-year average. "If you all remember in April, I got to present before this committee. We were just over 200 allegations at the time, and we projected if it stayed on pace, it would hit 400," he said.

The unit triages complaints to determine jurisdiction; Mullaney said roughly one third of allegations fall within the Integrity Unit's jurisdiction (fraud, waste and abuse or city-code violations), with the remaining two thirds referred to human resources or other departments for operational issues. The most common reporting method was the online form (58%), followed by direct contact with investigators, a dedicated email address and a whistleblower hotline. He said a majority of reporters choose to remain anonymous.

In FY25 the Integrity Unit completed 11 investigations; eight resulted in substantiated material violations of city code. The other three were inconclusive, unsubstantiated, or involved minor misuse documented via memo to the department. Mullaney said departments and city management agreed with findings and documented accountability actions; the most common action recorded was employee separation, including resignations during investigations.

Mullaney described nine open investigations across five departments and one active detection project initiated after an investigation uncovered misuse of a ProCard. The detection project applies tests developed from the confirmed misuse to search other ProCard transactions and is expected to finish in the next fiscal year.

He reiterated reporting options for the public and staff and encouraged use of the online form and hotline.