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The city of Edmonton has spent $ 616 million in taxpayer consulting services over the past five years.
An audit released Thursday showed that the city has grown from $ 90 million in 2008 to more than $ 120 a year since 2013.
The city planned to spend $ 227 million over five years, but changes to orders raised that number to $ 392 million, an increase of 72%.
In addition, $ 245 million of the total over five years was incorrectly coded in the system as an expense other than consultation.
All things considered, the city's chief financial officer, Todd Burge, said Edmonton was heading in the right direction.
"I actually think that the audit of advice is better than it seems," he said. "I think we have made considerable progress in reducing our use of advisory services and improving our accountability for advisory services."
But a city councilor questioned the value of services.
"What I want to know is how much the costs have become so unmanageable and what we get for that," said Ward 3's advisor, Jon Dziadyk. "Our expectations have been met because it seems like we are spending a lot of money and I am not very clear on what we are getting for that."
The report recommended that the city create a training program for staff responsible for transaction clbadification and improve estimates when ordering consulting services to avoid any order changes.
With Timm Bruch files
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