Bill Text: NJ SR204 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Governor to request State Comptroller to conduct audit of the City of Newark.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-09-22 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [SR204 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-SR204-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator RONALD L. RICE
District 28 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Governor to request State Comptroller to conduct audit of the City of Newark.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the Governor to request the State Comptroller to conduct an audit of the City of Newark.
Whereas, The City of Newark is the most populous municipality in the State of New Jersey; and
Whereas, The City of Newark continues to face many of the challenges common to urban communities across the State, including high rates of crime, blight, and poverty; and
Whereas, The City of Newark has a history of governance plagued by mismanagement, fraud, waste, and abuse, and has seen many of its officials convicted of corruption-related offenses; and
Whereas, The City of Newark has an extensive bureaucracy and numerous city agencies and other entities that perform city functions, all of which lack adequate oversight; and
Whereas, The State allocates a substantial amount of aid to the City of Newark which represents a significant investment of State resources; and
Whereas, It is vitally important and in the best interest of the citizens of the City of Newark and all the taxpayers of the State that there be accountability over the expenditure of the State's limited resources to ensure that they are being used effectively and efficiently to address the challenges facing the City of Newark; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House respectfully urges the Governor to request the State Comptroller to conduct a performance audit of the City of Newark to assess the financial administration statutory compliance and related internal controls of the city administration, all city agencies, and other entities performing city functions in order to uncover any mismanagement, fraud, waste, and abuse, and to report the findings of such audit in a report to the President of the Senate as soon as practicable after the completion of the audit.
2. If the State Comptroller does not commence the audit described in section 1 of this resolution within 30 days after passage, the State Auditor shall immediately undertake such audit with the consultation of, and in coordination and cooperation with, the State Comptroller, pursuant to section 9 of P.L.2007, c.52 (C.52:15C-9).
3. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to the Governor of the State of New Jersey and to the State Auditor.
STATEMENT
This resolution respectfully urges the Governor to request the State Comptroller to conduct a performance audit of the City of Newark and to issue a report detailing the findings of the audit. If this audit is not commenced within 30 days after passage of this resolution, the State Auditor shall undertake the audit with the aid of the State Comptroller as provided by statute. Such audit will provide needed accountability to ensure that the State's limited resources allocated to the City of Newark are being efficiently and effectively utilized to address the core challenges facing the city.
