THE AUDITOR GENERAL OF THE VILLE DE MONTRÉAL TABLES HER 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

Auditor General remains concerned about recommendations late in being implemented

MONTRÉAL, May 17, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Yesterday, Michèle Galipeau, Auditor General of the Ville de Montréal (the City), tabled to city council her report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. This Report presents, the results of 9 financial audit reports, 8 audits of performance and compliance with laws and regulations, one logical penetration test and 2 accountability reports including the follow-up of 471 recommendations.

Recommendations Late in Being Implemented

"For more than 6 years, the majority of commitments have clearly not been honoured, despite the City's putting in place measures in recent years", underlines Michèle Galipeau. "While certain delays can be attributed to the pandemic of the past 2 years, more than 37% of the recommendations resolved in 2021 had action plans whose timelines dated back more than 2 years. Furthermore, at December 31, 2021, more than 75% of the open recommendations were late in being implemented compared with the commitments made by the business units."

Management of the Information Technology Used to Work Remotely in Times of a Pandemic

The City ensured the sound management of the information technology used to work remotely by quickly deploying all the technological environment and security mechanisms required for its employees.

Management of the Emergency Program for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

In order to support businesses with cash shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministère de l'Économie et de l'Innovation (MEI) entrusted the management of the Emergency Assistance Program for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (PAUPME) to the City, through a $150M loan. In turn, the City delegated the management to the PME MTL network. As of September 30, 2021, 3,453 loans had been granted to companies, for a total of $117.6M. We observed shortcomings in respect with certain eligibility criteria, in the assessment of the businesses' overall financial situation, failure to comply with the loan requirements of the MEI and the City, and irregularities in the disbursement of the financial assistance. The City did not provide adequate monitoring to identify these non-compliance. The accountability is often inaccurate or incomplete.

Centralized Identity and Access Management

Centralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) provides appropriate access to information systems and applications, while reducing the number of usernames and passwords to remember. The processes and controls in place for GIA Citoyens do not present any major risk related to confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. For the GIA Employés, given that the project is being relaunched, our findings do not make it possible to conclude that this IAM ensures adequate risk management.

Plan d'action montréalais en itinérance

The City's efforts with respect to homelessness are commendable. However, it was impossible for us to assess the achievement of the expected benefits related to the implementation of the Plan d'action montréalais en itinérance (PAMI) 2018-2020. This situation is due to the measurement tools proposed, the absence of comparative data concerning needs and the few indicators of success identified. Furthermore, we cannot confirm that the projects selected as part of the implementation of the PAMI had benefited from an impartial and fair process.

Management of Public Roadwork ? Integrated Planning and Coordination Component

The planning and coordination processes for infrastructure projects on the road network put in place by the City are not effective in providing a comprehensive proactive view of all roadwork and minimizing its impacts. The roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined. There is no mechanism to identify funded projects. The City has established mobility corridors to limit roadwork and impediments, but the boroughs issue permits to complete work in these corridors.

Management of the Quality of Geolocation Data

Access to geolocation data, such as the exact location of a sewer line, the date of its last inspection and an indication of its structural condition, is an asset for project planning and management at the City. Due to several deficiencies including the lack of defined minimum data quality criteria and incomplete attributes of them, we have concluded that the geolocated data accessible to employees is not all of good quality. In addition, due to the lack of a complete inventory, not all data are known and available to employees.

Management of Industrial Control Systems

The City manages 6 drinking water production plants whose production capacity is approximately 3 million cubic meters of drinking water per day, which can serves some 2 million citizens. The City has put in place mechanisms to ensure the sound management and high degree of accessibility of the ICS and Information Technology for the production of drinking water.

Implementation of the Tree Policy ? Maintenance Component

The City has not implemented and follow-up the public tree maintenance actions set out in its 2015 Tree Policy. The composition and condition of public trees are unknown, orientations and maintenance programs are not established, maintenance practices are inconsistent, and the required budgets are not evaluated or specifically allocated. The result is that the maintenance and development of its arboreal heritage are compromised.

Audit of consolidated financial statements

For 2021, the Auditor General issued jointly with the external auditor unqualified auditor's reports for the consolidated financial statements for the Société de transport de Montréal (2 reports), the Société d'habitation et de développement de Montréal, the Société du parc Jean Drapeau, the Agence de mobilité durable, and Transgesco. At the time of producing this report, the City's financial statements had not been tabled with City Council.

To read the report, visit our website.

Follow the BVG on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Ville de Montréal - Bureau du vérificateur général