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NS: Spending spree over for MLAs with proposed new rules
By Staff, Transcontinental Media
Source: The Daily Business Buzz, Feb. 8, 2010
[HALIFAX, NS] — Premier Darrell Dexter has just released a statement saying he accepts and agrees with the recommendations of Nova Scotia’s Auditor General with regards to MLA expenses.
“I believe that the regulations need to be updated to reflect a contemporary office or working environment and that clear, adequate, guidelines are required,” said Dexter.
The premier also announced that he contacted the speaker and the leaders of the opposition parties to inform them of his desire that the Internal Economy Board be disbanded.
“I asked the opposition leaders to work with government over the next few weeks to prepare legislation to replace the Internal Economy Board with a modern legislature management commission based on best practices, operating in the open with a framework of accountability and specific direction that is publically debated and adopted by the legislature,” said Dexter.
The new legislation will set clear limits on what can be expensed and why. The proposed commission will standardize the system of procurement, leasing and staffing. The premier wants the meetings of the commission to be public.
Dexter has asked the speaker to seek an immediate change in the regulations so that members are now required to deduct their own meals from any expense claim they submit on a day they qualify for a per diem.
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Comments:
There is more to this than just what the MLA’s have been involved in. The
normal business process of purchasing and financial signing authority appears to be subject to review. Generally in government , furniture is provided through a central department that manages all government assets , including furniture. Usually, bills don’t get paid unless the expense was properly authorized and documented. Usually there is a budget some one manages , but here we see thousands being spent and supposedly the Speaker’s Office was supposed to manage the budget but it seems the Speakers Office never used purchase orders or even used any “standing” contracts for such basics as a coffee machine. So now the question should be, what is going on in ALL departments to ensure purchases are being made properly . It is time for more transparency here.