B.C.'s new municipal auditor general announced this week the first projects that will be examined by her office.
Not surprisingly, those include looking into whether taxpayers are getting good value for their money. Issues of daily operational costs, managing police budgets and spending on capital projects are all on the initial "hit" list. It's one that touches on the important budget issues facing most local governments.
When the office was first announced by the B.C. Liberals, it wasn't warmly welcomed by municipal leaders. It was seen potentially as an ideologically-motivated finger-pointing exercise by a provincial government that seemed not particularly able to acknowledge its own shortcomings pointed out by its own auditor general.
But it's very possible there is value in such a watchdog. It would, for instance, be far better to have an impartial analysis of municipal spending habits - backed by evidence - than read repeated reports by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business generated by their dubious methodology.
In the municipal world - unlike the provincial one - there is no official opposition. An additional check and balance could be welcome.
Finally accountability isn't always about money. Sometimes it's about the way decisions are reached and how the public is involved. That's also worth considering.
There are many eyes watching to see if the new municipal AG is all that the critics first feared. Now it's time for her to go ahead and prove them wrong.
