AUDIT OF PLANT EXPANSION, ARTS PLAZA OK'D.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

The City Council has hired an accounting firm to audit the proposed $75 million Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion and the financing of the Civic Arts Plaza.

At a special meeting Tuesday, the council voted 4-1 to pay Price Waterhouse $100,000 to $125,000 to examine all pertinent information and financial reports related to the proposed expansion and the $63.9 million construction price of the new government center.

The independent audit will help settle whether city staff provided the council with adequate information about the costs and scope of the proposed expansion and the financing of the Civic Arts Plaza - something that Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski have long questioned.

``This issue has everything to do with restoring trust and trying to repair what I think have been very damaging statements that have been made by elected officials of the council,'' said Mayor Andrew Fox.

The audit begins immediately and the council should have a report from Price Waterhouse in about six weeks. The report will be discussed at a subsequent council meeting, Fox said.

Zeanah and Zukowski have contended, among other things, that the proposed Hill Canyon expansion goes way beyond what the city needs and have objected to a proposed $7.35 hike in the residential service fee to help cover those costs. The increase needs four votes to pass.

They have also questioned how the city paid for construction of the government center.

Zeanah, the sole dissenter in Tuesday's vote, said that the audit doesn't go far enough and will duplicate information the council already has.

Instead, she had been pushing for a full audit of the city's books to cover such things as the city's reserve fund and how much of the cash the city has on hand is unencumbered and how much is committed.

``The audit is so limited in scope that it does not give what an audit should give,'' Zeanah said. ``The audit I was seeking was an independent, second opinion of the city's financial health.''

Though agreeing that the audit's scope will be too narrow, Zukowski - whose motion to expand it by including an analysis of the city's reserves, management of city assets and a projection of future needs was defeated - said it will still be beneficial.

``It feel it's a positive step forward,'' she said.