The State Auditor's Office sent Governor Gregoire a letter yesterdayformally requesting that she veto changes in the budget to theperformance audit program. Here is the Auditor's letter in full:
Dear Governor Gregoire:
I am writing to respectfully request your veto of Section 124 (3) of the state operating
budget and to encourage you to work with state lawmakers to restore at least $14
million of the $29 million in performance audit funding being taken from the State
Auditor's budget over the next two years.
As passed, Section 124 (3) of this budget violates government auditing standards, as
explained in the attached letters. This section should be vetoed for that reason alone.
Additionally, enacting this budget into law could have far-reaching consequences, such
as affecting this state's ability to properly account for billions of dollars in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act money that wil! l be so important in getting the state's
families and economy back on their feet. Comprehensive oversight of these dollars is
absolutely critical.
Section 124 (3) also sets up a perverse relationship between our Office and state
agencies. Tying our performance audit dollars to actual cost-savings by agencies
deeply compromises agencies' perception of our objectivity and independence.
Regarding funding for performance audits, I wish to re-emphasize that taking away
nearly three-quarters of our budget for that work decimates a program Washington
citizens made very clear they wanted when they approved Initiative 900.
The size of the reduction also impedes efforts we agreed to undertake on a statewide
performance review that we hope will be another step in bringing about true, meaningful
reform of state government. With your advocacy and support, we have been putting
together a plan for this review ! and we remain committed to producing recommendations
to s! ave money, to streamline operations and to eliminate duplication and outdated
programs.
The $15 million we agreed to have the Legislature sweep from our current performance
audit fund balance would have reduced that budget by about 50 percent, but it was
similar to fund balance sweeps at other agencies, As passed by the Legislature, the
budget reflected a 73 percent cut ($29 million) in our performance audit funds.
We also are disappointed at the Legislature's failure to recognize that our 15 completed
audits identified nearly $500 million in cost savings and unnecessary spending for state
government alone. Considering the cost to conduct those audits, we have achieved a
10-to-1 return on investment.
We remain committed to helping you provide oversight over the stimulus funding and
set state government on a leaner, more effective path for the future and again, request
a veto of Section 124 and! restoration of at least $14 million to our performance audit
funding.
Sincerely,
BRIAN SONNTAG
STATE AUDITOR
I am writing to respectfully request your veto of Section 124 (3) of the state operating
budget and to encourage you to work with state lawmakers to restore at least $14
million of the $29 million in performance audit funding being taken from the State
Auditor's budget over the next two years.
As passed, Section 124 (3) of this budget violates government auditing standards, as
explained in the attached letters. This section should be vetoed for that reason alone.
Additionally, enacting this budget into law could have far-reaching consequences, such
as affecting this state's ability to properly account for billions of dollars in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act money that wil! l be so important in getting the state's
families and economy back on their feet. Comprehensive oversight of these dollars is
absolutely critical.
Section 124 (3) also sets up a perverse relationship between our Office and state
agencies. Tying our performance audit dollars to actual cost-savings by agencies
deeply compromises agencies' perception of our objectivity and independence.
Regarding funding for performance audits, I wish to re-emphasize that taking away
nearly three-quarters of our budget for that work decimates a program Washington
citizens made very clear they wanted when they approved Initiative 900.
The size of the reduction also impedes efforts we agreed to undertake on a statewide
performance review that we hope will be another step in bringing about true, meaningful
reform of state government. With your advocacy and support, we have been putting
together a plan for this review ! and we remain committed to producing recommendations
to s! ave money, to streamline operations and to eliminate duplication and outdated
programs.
The $15 million we agreed to have the Legislature sweep from our current performance
audit fund balance would have reduced that budget by about 50 percent, but it was
similar to fund balance sweeps at other agencies, As passed by the Legislature, the
budget reflected a 73 percent cut ($29 million) in our performance audit funds.
We also are disappointed at the Legislature's failure to recognize that our 15 completed
audits identified nearly $500 million in cost savings and unnecessary spending for state
government alone. Considering the cost to conduct those audits, we have achieved a
10-to-1 return on investment.
We remain committed to helping you provide oversight over the stimulus funding and
set state government on a leaner, more effective path for the future and again, request
a veto of Section 124 and! restoration of at least $14 million to our performance audit
funding.
Sincerely,
BRIAN SONNTAG
STATE AUDITOR
Included as attachments were the following letters explaining how the performance audit proviso violates auditing standards:
- https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/government/PDF/SAOLetter.pdf
- https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/government/PDF/SAOLetter2.pdf
Additional Information
Will veto restore performance audit funding?
