Here are some things the Long Beach auditor doesn’t do<\/p>\n
The auditor cannot make decisions about how city money is spent, just recommendations the city manager and City Council may act on.<\/p>\n
The auditor does not prosecute crimes or bring litigation but provides underlying facts that could lead to them.<\/p>\n
Fast facts about the Long Beach auditor\u00a0To qualify for the office, candidates must be licensed certified public accountants, as required by the Long Beach city charter.Auditors are meant to act independently, with the ability to hire and fire their own staff. Their budget, however, is set by the City Council.The current city auditor, who is running for reelection, has been in office since 2006. The sole challenger has not held elected office in Long Beach before.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s on the agenda for next term<\/p>\n
The elected city auditor has the power to set targets for audits. At least once a year, however, the auditor is required to audit the city\u2019s full books for \u201caccuracy and correctness.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the federal government recently alleging fraud in Democratic states, including California, the auditor\u2019s job could take on even more importance, either uncovering potential fraud or reassuring Long Beach residents their money is being spent correctly.<\/p>\n
An increasing number of Long Beach voters have flagged fraud and waste in city government<\/a> as a major problem, putting even more pressure on the next auditor to deliver on the promise of transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n What it takes to win<\/p>\n Any candidate who earns more than 50% of the vote in the June 2 primary wins outright. Because there are only two candidates in this race, that vote will be decisive.<\/p>\n The candidates for Long Beach auditor<\/p>\n About LAist’s voter guides<\/p>\n When information is missing<\/p>\n Some candidates did not reply to our requests for images. Some did not have a campaign website and\/or list of endorsements available online at the time of publication. We will update this guide as more candidate information becomes available.<\/p>\n Laura Doud, incumbent<\/p>\n Doud is a certified public accountant, a certified fraud examiner and a lifelong resident of Long Beach. She also has a law degree. As the incumbent, Doud has served as Long Beach auditor for 20 years.<\/p>\n Laura Doud<\/p>\n Doud describes herself as a \u201ctenacious fighter against fraud, waste and abuse.\u201d Her job requires her to act as a type of finance police who ensures local government is spending money efficiently, addressing budget deficits and acting with transparency.<\/p>\n In her own words<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past 20 years, I\u2019ve been very aggressive at going after revenue-generating audits, ensuring that all the money the city is supposed to be collecting, that we are collecting,\u201d Doud said.<\/p>\n These audits help locate and produce revenue that would otherwise fall between the cracks. She said that throughout her tenure, audits have produced more than $350 million in additional funding for the City of Long Beach.<\/p>\n Doud says one of her most lucrative audits was of Long Beach\u2019s oil production tax in 2007. She discovered that oil producers in Long Beach paid significantly lower taxes than they did in other places, so Doud said she proposed a local tax hike. She helped the measure get passed by voters and in turn secured millions in revenue for the city each year. Doud said the money went toward public safety improvements \u2014 including hiring police officers and firefighters, and even getting a shiny new red fire truck for the city.<\/p>\n Most recently, Doud completed an audit of the Long Beach Homeless Services Bureau\u2019s spending over the past five years. The goal was to determine if the agency had properly spent a total of $69 million in funding. The audit identified multiple ways the bureau could improve and resulted in Long Beach firing one of its biggest service contractors<\/a>.<\/p>\n More voter resources:<\/p>\n Go deeper:\u00a0<\/p>\n Ginny Gonzales, certified public accountant<\/p>\n Ginny Gonzalez<\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Courtesy of the campaign<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n Gonzales is a private sector CPA and paralegal. She\u2019s also a retired IRS auditor and has four master\u2019s degrees in different fields of accounting. In 2022, Gonzales ran for the District 9 council seat but lost. Now she\u2019s running for city auditor, she said, because that the incumbent has held the position too long. Gonzalez said best practice is that auditors shouldn\u2019t remain in any one job for more than five years because you need fresh eyes and an outsider perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to break this incumbent cabal,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s going along to get along\u201d<\/p>\n In her own words<\/p>\n Municipal governments don\u2019t have inspectors general, Gonzales said, so the city auditor needs to be the one policing waste and abuse. To do this effectively, the auditor can\u2019t be close with the people she\u2019s supposed to be auditing.<\/p>\n If elected, Gonzales said, her first priority would be examining the budget \u2014 figuring out how to streamline government, find new funding sources and making sure all residents are getting an \u201cequitable bite of the taxpayer dollar.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonzales said she\u2019d conduct an audit on green space, making sure all neighborhoods receive their fair share. She said she would also review income from parking tickets and street sweeping fees to identify whether that revenue is being directly spent in the district it\u2019s collected in. There are also the upcoming Olympics to consider, and Long Beach needs to take a hard look at the projected economic impact of the event, Gonzales said. Details need to be hammered out, like what it\u2019s costing the city to host games and if residents will see any sort of perks \u2014 such as a discount on tickets.<\/p>\n Gonzales says when it comes to the city\u2019s unhoused population and critical lack of affordable housing, it\u2019s time for the city to stop \u201cthrowing money\u201d at the problem and to really get creative. She said this could mean offering incentives, such as property tax breaks, to people who house disabled residents receiving SSI and SSDI.<\/p>\n \u201cThe federal government is failing us \u2014 it really is,\u201d she said. \u201cThe state and local government has to step up to the plate and do something.\u201d<\/p>\n More voter resources:<\/p>\n Go deeper:\u00a0<\/p>\n Campaign finance<\/p>\n No outside spending as of last reporting date<\/p>\n Independent or outside committees can raise and spend without limits \u2014 but they’re barred from coordinating with a candidate. A chart will appear above when any outside committees have spent money to support or oppose a candidate in this race. Updated every Tuesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n How to get involved<\/p>\n How to attend a Long Beach City Council meeting<\/p>\n The Long Beach City Council meets most Tuesdays at 5 p.m. in the Civic Chambers at 411 W. Ocean Blvd. You can attend in person or watch online here<\/a>, as well as on the city\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>. You can find the meeting agendas here<\/a>.In order to give public comment, residents must sign up with the city clerk, located on the left side of the room in front of the council dais. If you can\u2019t attend the meeting, you can still leave a public comment online. Here\u2019s more information<\/a> on how to do that.The public comment period for non-agenda items typically happens toward the start of the meeting, but there\u2019s also an opportunity to give public comment for each item on the regular agenda. If there are too many speakers on non-agenda items, be prepared to wait until almost the end of the meeting, which can last hours.If you want to contact your City Council member or other local elected officials directly, you can find their contact information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s at stake in this race The auditor is Long Beach\u2019s internal financial watchdog. 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