Council voted against her motion in April 2021 that called for Surrey to have an auditor general, an office that other big cities in the country already have, along with the federal and provincial governments. 

 

“In light of the allegations that our city was defrauded of some $2.5 million by a former employee, I will be bringing back my original motion,” said Annis. “I want our city to have the expertise that comes with an independent auditor general, an office that can look at every part of our operations, as well as our policies and procedures. The theft of $2.5 million is no small thing, and I want to make sure we have the best policies and procedures in place now and going forward. The expertise that comes with an auditor general will go a long way to ensuring our taxpayers can have confidence in how city hall is managing and protecting their tax dollars."

 

Annis said the city's annual budget is almost $2 billion, making Surrey one of the biggest organizations in the province, and bigger than most businesses. “We are about to become the biggest city in the province, and having an auditor general is something every big city and every province has,” noted Annis. “We need to ensure we have transparency and accountability, and those two things go hand-in-hand with an independent auditor general.”