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The Denver Auditor’s Office now has more power to investigate groups that receive tax dollars, after the Denver City Council passed a bill Monday that gives the office subpoena power when conducting performance audits.
After three years of conflict over the issue, the bill passed unanimously.
Sponsors of the bill say that subpoena power will help the auditor’s office do its job in holding external groups accountable for how they handle taxpayer money. That includes anything from nonprofits that provide social services to for-profit companies contracted at the airport, for example.
“It’s really important that city tax dollars and our tax dollars are being followed and being held accountable,” said Councilmember Amanda Sawyer, who co-sponsored the bill with Councilmembers Sarah Parady and Shontel Lewis. “This is the public’s money.”
In the past few months, critics of the bill raised concerns about whether it was necessary or if it might give the auditor too much power. City council resolved those concerns Monday night, unanimously passing an amendment giving the entire audit committee — not just the auditor — oversight of the subpoena process. The audit committee includes six other people appointed by the city council, the mayor, and the auditor.
“It’s a compromise that I think is workable,” said Auditor Timothy O’Brien.
The bill also changes the process for how audited groups can dispute requests for information. Previously, the city and audited groups would have to take disputes to court. While rare, that could be costly and make audits drag on. Under the new bill, the auditor or the audited group can take disagreements to a third-party hearing officer.
In addition to city council and the auditor’s office, the bill has the support of labor groups, who say it will help ensure companies that get taxpayer money are treating workers fairly and being responsible with public funds.
Subpoena power has a complicated history in the auditor’s office.
City council granted the office subpoena power for performance audits in 2021. But due to fears of overreach, council included a last-minute amendment allowing audited groups to limit access to sensitive documents by only allowing city staff to view materials in person, not online. O’Brien sued the city in response, prompting city council to repeal the auditor’s subpoena power entirely to avoid a costly lawsuit.
Earlier this year, city council returned subpoena power to the auditor’s office so it could investigate claims of wage theft. But subpoena power for performance audits remained outlawed while sponsors worked on the more controversial bill.
Councilmember Kevin Flynn was one of the holdouts over concerns of overreach. He pointed out that many of Denver’s past auditors went on to become mayor.
“Every auditor that I have known… has had mayoral ambitions, and so we had very interesting discussions with the members of the audit committee on the politics of one person with mayoral ambitions potentially having subpoena power,” Flynn said.
In the final bill, members of the audit committee have a say in subpoena power, not just the auditor themselves.
Ultimately, use of subpoena power could be rare. According to the auditor’s office, just two groups have disputed requests for documents from the office in the past five years.