As part of VPR's series of interviews with candidates for statewide office, Vermont Edition spoke with Doug Hoffer, who is seeking his fourth term as state auditor. Hoffer took the time to explain the role of his office.
According to Hoffer, the state auditor has three main tasks: performing or hiring others to perform the audit of the state's financial statements; performing the single federal audit; and conducting performance and investigative audits. He says the first two are handled by outside entities.
One investigative report his office has conducted is looking at sole-source contracting. While state contracts are expected to go out to competitive bid, Hoffer says, "There are some instances where that's not necessary or appropriate. But those are supposed to be extraordinary circumstances." His office found that among the major departments that were looked at, 42 percent of the contracts were sole-source.
Hoffer, a Democrat/Progressive, says if he is re-elected in November, he'd like to do more programmatic audits, which look to see if a program or project is achieving its intended goals.
GOP State Auditor candidate Rick Kenyon declined VPR's invitation to be interviewed as part of this series.
Broadcast on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
