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Officials To Resume Audit of DWP Trusts; City Launches 'Online Checkbook'

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Work will resume on a stalled audit of a pair of a trusts that received over $40 million for more than a decade from the Department of Water and Power, officials announced Friday.

The audit of the Joint Safety Institute and the Joint Training Institute began in December, but was halted "shortly thereafter" when auditors were"prevented from accessing certain documents they need to complete their audit," forcing the controller and the trusts the enter into disputeresolution.

In addition to the audit, City Controller Ron Galperin announced the release of DWP Utility Panel, an online database of financial records for the Department of Water and Power aimed at making the utility more transparent to taxpayers.

Galperin said he was "happy to report that (auditors) are again proceeding with the audit and will be in there next week to complete theirwork."

The open data site will offer "information about pay codes and how much time is on vacation pay and for overtime, for fringe benefits, facility work pay," Galperin told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.

The data is current from July 1, 2011, through Dec. 31, 2014, according to Controller spokesman Lowell Goodman.

"We have now put their checkbook online, so every single payment that the DWP makes, be it to vendors, suppliers, to agencies, now that's there for everybody to see, and it's searchable," Galperin said.

The launch comes in response to critics who have called upon the DWP in recent years to improve transparency on its decision-making processes for rate hikes and other policies.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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