Audit Office looks at staff discount deals

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 6

Audit Office looks at staff discount deals

PA Auckland Many local authorities in the North Island allow their staff private use of council-arranged discount deals — to buy everything from toilet paper and tyres to dishwashers — at up to 45 per cent below normal rates. An Audit Office investigation in Taranaki found staff and councillors from more than one local authority were using council discounts to buy cars. The local government audit director, Mr Stephen Lewis, said the practice of people buying private cars on the same terms as council fleet deals was believed to be widespread throughout New Zealand.

The Audit Office is considering the legal ramifi-

cations and ethics involved in the Taranaki case before informing all local authorities of its decision.

Authorities approached by the “Sunday Star” newspaper denied knowledge of councillor and staff discount deals for cars. But they agreed staff at many councils could make bargain buys by using council purchasing arrangements. Mr Lewis said council-lor-use of council car discounts' "smacks of being incorrect” because case law indicates they should not benefit from their positions. The Audit Office does not intend a large-scale investigation of local body discount use, but Mr Lewis said people would

be made aware of the “wider ramifications” of obtaining a cheap deal. The Municipal Association president, Mr Ross Jansen, said he was not aware of any local bodies with staff and councillor discounts for car purchases.

“In local bodies, staff and more particularly councillors have to bend over backwards not to violate any rules or be seen to be violating any rules,” he said. The chairman of the Counties’ Association, Mr Gordon Mason, said such practices had never come to his notice, but he planned to raise the issue at a meeting of the Territorial Local Government Council in Wellington this week.