INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Informational Report on the Status of Tourism Improvement District Financial Audit
Report
BACKGROUND
On May 22, 2018, Council provided direction to staff to begin an audit of the Convention Center and Convention-Visitors Bureau (CVB). On June 5, an Agreement was executed with TAP International and audit work commenced immediately.
On August 21, 2018, I advised the Council that the auditor determined that the ongoing audit of the Convention Center and CVB revealed that the operation and funding of the Tourism Improvement District (TID) was interwoven in the financial and operational structure of the Convention Center and CVB. Accordingly, in order to thoroughly complete the audit, staff stated that we would request an augmentation of the TAP International contract to include a financial audit of the TID.
As provided in the Agreement, the TID audit objectives include:
1) Have the hotels participating in the TID accurately remitted TID revenue to the City for FY 15/16 and FY 16/17?
2) Are the expenses of the TID consistent with TID bylaws and policies since FY12/13?
3) What is the nature and extent of any outstanding bills and payables, if any, that have not yet been recorded in the TID's financial system.
My report to Council advised that in order to respond to these objectives, the auditor would need to undertake several key activities including: collection of room night data from each of the TID participating hotels; review of the accuracy of the room night data reported; verification of the accuracy of the TID fees remitted to the city; review of the TID's general ledger for the past 5 years; review of the TID check registers; and collection and review of bills and other payables schedule to be paid.
The targeted completion of work was identified as September 2018 with a presentation to Council on the findings of the TID financial audit in October. However, staff and TAP are having difficulty securing all ...
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