Committee advances Budget & Legislative Analyst audit plan, including Muni ridership and workforce audits

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on April 18 voted to forward to the Board a Budget & Legislative Analyst proposal setting the office’s audit plan for fiscal 2018–2019.

Severn Campbell of the Budget & Legislative Analyst office clarified to the committee, "This is actually setting our audit plan, not our work plan." Campbell said the Board has approved 6,800 hours for audit work in 2018–19 and the motion before the committee would authorize audits to be performed within that allocation and allow the Analyst to reallocate up to 20% of hours between service categories (Board approval would be required for reallocations greater than 20%).

Campbell described three audits recommended in the motion: an evaluation of trends in Muni ridership and revenue and the effectiveness of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in managing traffic congestion; an audit of the effectiveness of the city’s workforce development programs serving low-income, homeless and formerly homeless adults; and an audit of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s planning for large-scale development and capital projects and the economic impacts of those projects on surrounding businesses.

The committee opened the item for public comment, received none, and moved the item forward without objection. If approved by the full Board, the audits were slated to begin in February, with two audits from 2017–18 still underway, Campbell said.