Is the city of Sacramento losing out on an opportunity to bring in more revenue? According to the most recent city audit, the answer is yes. In a report to the City Council Tuesday, City Auditor Jorge Oseguera outlined four areas for needed improvement in the Revenue Collections department of the city’s Finance Division, along with 12 recommendations for remedying the problem areas. The audit, which was started in late November 2010, found that the city could improve its cash handling procedures, that the performance measures for Revenue Division management lack efficiency and the process for collecting transfer tax revenue is inefficient. “(The Finance Department) does have good practi

The utilities department will be able to save more than $40 million over the next four years, according to an audit presented to the City Council Thursday, but some debate the accuracy of those numbers. According tho the audit, which can be read here, six main areas of the utilities department can be run more efficiently. The savings in the 2012 fiscal year would amount to approximately $8.6 million. The audit was requested by Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Kevin McCarty last October, partially in response to a ballot measure that dealt with utilities rates, with McCarty saying it should be on the audit schedule ahead of other audits. City Auditor Jorge Oseguera said that when talki

The local media is abuzz about the city’s proposals to lay off 80 sworn Sacramento police officers, among other police staffers, to help balance the city’s budget. But while information on the proposed layoffs has been reported, many Sacramento residents may not know the basic facts and salary information for police officers in Sacramento. The City Council, which is wrestling with a $39 million budget gap, is expected to approve the city’s budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year on June 21. The recommendation to lay off cops – as well as other cost-cutting measures – comes from the city manager’s office. Here is a guide to help residents understand the salary and benefits for the average p

As much as $8.6 million could be saved in the city’s budget for fiscal year 2011/2012 if the City Council makes certain changes to the Utilities Department, according to a new audit released Thursday. Because ratepayers pay for Utilities Department services, savings would not relieve the general fund gap but could lessen the burden on property owners and businesses. Among other suggestions, the audit says the city could save money by not replacing backyard water mains that are still functional and cutting workers’ hours at water treatment plants. However, it’s unclear at this point whether the city could garner the $8.6 million in savings, because the City Council must review the sugges

Five months after a consultant released a scathing audit of the city’s Community Development Department, the department is making headway on correcting its practices, according to City Auditor Jorge Oseguera. However, it’s still unclear when or if the city can obtain $2.3 million in developer fees that the department did not collect. Oseguera presented a report on the department’s overhaul to the City Council on Tuesday. The council accepted Oseguera’s report and did not take any formal action on it. The October audit, conducted by Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., faulted the department for not collecting more than $2.3 million in fees in recent years. The firm also accused city employ

The Sacramento City Council hired a Philadelphia-based firm earlier this week to audit the city’s Utilities Department. Public Financial Management, Inc., will receive up to $116,902 for its audit of the department, the council decided on Tuesday. In a Feb. 22 staff report, City Auditor Jorge Oseguera wrote that he and his staff judged the seven firms that applied for the job on “proposed scope of work, timeliness of work product, each firm’s expertise and qualifications, project cost and references.” The city’s audit team also interviewed three of the firms. The outcome of the process was Oseguera’s recommendation that the City Council hire Public Financial Management for the audit. L

City Auditor Jorge Oseguera will present to the City Council on Tuesday night a list of audits he wants to work on during the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Ideas for audits include examinations of the Utilities Department’s billing practices and payments to city employees on top of their base salary. The Utilities Department will experience a double dose of audits. In addition to Oseguera’s audit of the department’s billing procedures, an independent consultant will review many of its other functions, including service, operations and staffing levels. The City Council will decide whether to approve Oseguera’s list at its meeting. The rules for the auditor’s annual plan, which are outlined in th

The city auditor’s office expects it will finish fewer audits by July 1 than planned because of high staff turnover in recent months, according to City Auditor Jorge Oseguera. He said in an interview on Wednesday that his office will release three audits by July 1: one on the city’s health benefits system, one on revenue collection practices and the third on citywide policies. In an interview last July, Oseguera said he planned to focus on four audits and hoped to start working on additional ones by this July. But Oseguera explained Wednesday that two of three staffers resigned in recent months, causing his office to take the fourth audit off the table. The auditors left in the midst of

Three months after Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Councilman Kevin McCarty publicly called for an audit of the Sacramento Utilities Department, the department will be audited extensively. The city’s internal auditor and an outside firm will conduct audits, the City Council decided Tuesday night. The council’s decision comes a year after the Sacramento County Grand Jury claimed in a report that the department may have broken state law Proposition 218. The law says that utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services. Partly in response to the Prop. 218 issue, a citizens’ group placed a measure on the November ballot to roll back city utilitie

Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty and Mayor Kevin Johnson both said Tuesday that the city’s Utilities Department should be audited. While the Utilities Department is not currently on City Auditor Jorge Oseguera’s audit schedule, it appears there is growing interest in the idea.  McCarty said at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that he wanted to explore how the city could start an audit of the Utilities Department. Oseguera said he is now working on audits of the city’s health benefits program and the city’s vehicle fleet management division. “I think that (the Utilities Department) warrants getting on the list, (and) maybe even jumping in front of the other ones,” McCarty sai

Sacramento’s city auditor is exploring the idea of creating a whistle-blower hotline for City Hall. City Auditor Jorge Oseguera told the city’s audit committee on Tuesday that he was talking to City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office about the idea. The audit committee is composed of City Council members Lauren Hammond, Robbie Waters, Ray Tretheway and Steve Cohn. Whistle-blower hotlines are “a common topic right now in the auditing community,” Oseguera said on Wednesday. The plan is in its early stages, Oseguera said, and no details have been established yet on how the hotline would work or when it would start operating. In a Tuesday e-mail, Teichert said she could say only that the pl

Policies. Procedures. Controls. Max Fernandez uses those three words frequently to describe the overhaul he’s leading at the city’s Community Development Department (CDD). Fernandez, the new director of the department, sat down with The Sacramento Press this week to discuss how he’s changing the culture and tightening rules at the department after it faced a host of recent crises with fees and building permits.  The CDD director job was a promotion for Fernandez, who was the former director of Code Enforcement. He started work at CDD in early July.  “A big change that we’ve had since I’ve been here is we’ve implemented all these policies and procedures,” Fernandez said. “That was a big

Mayor Kevin Johnson and three City Council members said Tuesday they were not aware that Sacramento’s new deputy city auditor had been fired from his previous auditor job. Gerald Silva, a deputy city auditor in Sacramento, resigned from his position Monday after The Sacramento Press asked him to comment on a case that ended his career in San Jose. Silva worked as the city auditor for San Jose for 22 years. The San Jose City Council unanimously fired him in 2007 in the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit. Asked about the past allegations Monday, Silva said he didn’t want to be a source of embarrassment to Jorge Oseguera, the city auditor. Oseguera hired Silva in March; the two had work

As we in the tiny Sacramento Press newsroom digested the news that a newly hired deputy city auditor was resigning - as a result of one lunchtime phone call to auditor Gerald Silva from our city hall reporter, Kathleen Haley - I marveled at several things. First, that on a summer Monday, the Sacramento Press' inquiries had caused a city official to resign. Despite what people might think, that's not the most rewarding thing a journalist can do. But when the official and his boss have hidden damaging information from city staff and the public - in this case that Silva was fired for his role in a sexual harassment lawsuit while working for San Jose's city government - well…that's good stuff

The city of Sacramento’s new deputy city auditor, Gerald Silva, resigned from his position Monday afternoon after The Sacramento Press asked him to comment on a lawsuit that affected his previous work in the city of San Jose. Silva was fired from his previous job as city auditor of San Jose in 2007 in the aftermath of a sexual harassment case. Silva worked with Sacramento City Auditor Jorge Oseguera in San Jose. Oseguera hired Silva as a deputy city auditor for Sacramento in March. The San Jose Mercury News wrote multiple stories in 2007 about a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed by Jennifer Callaway, an auditor in Silva’s department. The June 2007 sexual harassment lawsuit w

 In an abandoned corner of City Hall that formerly housed the planning department, four auditors are digging for information about the city’s rules and finances. Jorge Oseguera, the new city auditor, has narrowed down the top four areas of municipal government he will investigate first: the city’s health benefits, citywide policies, revenue collections and the vehicle fleet. In addition to those audits, he has four more in the hopper. The next set of audits will cover the city’s 311 information center, purchase cards, fire inspection fees and the city’s sidewalk repair process. The City Council gave Oseguera permission to move ahead with the audits in June. Oseguera said his goal is to

An audit of the city's Community Development Department could be finished in September, said Kurt Sjoberg, one of the consultants working on the project. Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. of Sacramento is carrying out the audit of the department. Auditors from the firm are tackling numerous issues at the department, including claims that the department broke the city's planning rules and did not gather fees from developers. The City Council voted to hire Sjoberg in April. In a June 10 oral report to the city’s audit committee, Oseguera said the Sjoberg auditors are developing findings that they think will be “very useful to the city.” Oseguera declined to elaborate on that statement Monda

Sacramento consulting firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. will audit the city’s Community Development Department, the City Council decided Thursday. The vote to hire the firm was unanimous. Four candidates were interviewed by city staff for the job.  Jorge Oseguera, city auditor, wrote in a report to the council that Sjoberg was the “highest ranking competitor and most responsive bidder.”  The city will pay Sjoberg as much as $66,424 for the audit, according to Oseguera’s report. That amount is within the auditor’s budget, Oseguera said. The idea of hiring Sjoberg drew criticism from some of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s critics. In recent comments on The Sacramento Press, the mayor's criti

Critics of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson are raising concerns over a consulting firm’s ability to conduct an objective audit of the Community Development Department. But City Auditor Jorge Oseguera said Tuesday that Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. does not have a conflict of interest. Oseguera will ask the City Council on Thursday to hire Sjoberg to conduct the audit. Some of Johnson’s critics pointed out in comments on The Sacramento Press that Sjoberg has worked with the law group Bell, McAndrews and Hiltachk. That group's managing partner, Thomas Hiltachk, wrote the strong mayor initiative. Johnson would have obtained more authority from the initiative, which was str

The city auditor’s office will ask the City Council Thursday to hire a consulting firm to audit the Community Development Department.  City Auditor Jorge Oseguera’s office wants the auditing job to go to Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. In a report to the City Council, Oseguera wrote that Sjoberg is “the highest ranking competitor and most responsive bidder.” City staff interviewed four candidates for the job. Oseguera proposes that the city pay up to $66,424 to the firm for the audit. The City Council is scheduled to decide whether to hire the firm Thursday. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.