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 the city code, allow for changes to the plan. The City Council must approve those changes, the code says.

Other areas Oseguera would like to audit in the 2011-2012 fiscal year include the city’s fleet management, city sidewalk repairs, Fire Department inspection fees, purchase cards and the 311 call center.

Oseguera wrote in a staff report that he uses a variety of sources and methods to choose his audits.

“For example, in order to identify and prioritize potential audits based on the level of risk to the city, the city auditor’s office completed a citywide risk assessment,” he wrote. “The city auditor’s office also solicited audit suggestions from the mayor, city councilmembers, city management, and city staff, and identified potential audit areas by reviewing city financial information, reports, policies, procedures, ordinances and regulations. Finally, the city auditor relied on professional experience and expertise to identify areas of high audit potential.”

Several of the audits Oseguera would like to work on in 2011-2012 come from his 2010-2011 audit list.

Oseguera’s office is currently working on three audits – one on the city’s health benefits system, one on revenue collection practices and the third on citywide policies.

He said in January that he would release the three audits by July 1, but in an interview on Friday, he said there is a possibility that all three might not be complete by then. His work to oversee the upcoming consultant’s audit of the Utilities Department has “sidetracked” some of his resources, he said.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can,” he said.

Read Oseguera’s list here.

Kathleen Haley is staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.