The City of Whitehorse could pay up to $15,000 to find out if government grant money was spent effectively on Mount Sima.
On Monday, city council approved a motion to hire an independent auditor to gauge the performance of government spending on the troubled ski hill, going back about three years.
“We’re going back about two or three years just to see some of the larger grants that have been provided,” said Mayor Dan Curtis. “It would include the Build Canada fund, for instance. There has been about $3 million put through the City of Whitehorse through the federal government or through the territorial government over the last couple of years.”
The city has also given Sima between $30,000 and $40,000 over the last 19 years, said Curtis. But he wants to see whether all public money was spent well or not.
The contract will be awarded only to a successful bidder that hasn’t had any previous dealings with either the former Great Northern Ski Society, which ran the hill until this year, or with the city, Curtis said.
If the bids come back below $15,000, the administration will immediately award to the lowest successful bidder. If the bids come back higher, it will have to go back to council for another decision.
“We’d like to get it done, not only for moving forward with Mount Sima, but for other organizations that might be looking at using this model. This will help them along and avoid the pitfalls that perhaps have been made and look at the good things that have happened,” Curtis said.