Annual Report 2023 Court of Auditors

Before you is the Annual Report 2023 of the joint Court of Audit municipality of Laarbeek and the municipality of Gemert - Bakel.
The court of auditors expresses its gratitude for the support received from the registry and the professional cooperation of the official organization of both municipalities.

Frits van Vugt
President
May 24, 2024

The Court of Audit Gemert-Bakel - Laarbeek had the following composition as of December 31, 2023.

• Mr. F. van Vugt (chairman)
• Mr. R. Malag (member)
• Mr. L. Elzinga (member)

Mr. Elzinga was sworn in at the municipal council meeting in Gemert-Bakel on March 2, 2023 (following previous appointments to the Laarbeek and Gemert-Bakel councils). As of the same date, Messrs. Van Vugt and Malag were reappointed and sworn in again.
As of March 2, the new "Ordinance on the Gemert-Bakel and Laarbeek Common Chamber of Commerce" also went into effect. This was in the context of the changed legislation (Municipalities Act) whereby the chamber of accountants became a chamber of accountants.
In 2023, the court of auditors received technical and advisory support from Mr. R. van Heijnsbergen, registrar of the municipality of Laarbeek. The support and advice received has been of added value to the court of auditors. The Court of Audit experienced the cooperation as constructive and positive.

The Court of Audit is an independent body whose duties and powers are described in the Municipalities Act and by the aforementioned Regulation on the Municipal Court of Audit and Covenant on the Joint Court of Audit of the Municipalities of Gemert-Bakel and Laarbeek. In addition, the Court of Audit has rules of procedure and a research protocol.

The Court of Audit conducts research into the effects of the municipal policy and into the efficiency and effectiveness of the municipal policy, of the municipal management and of the municipal organization, into the legitimacy of the municipal management, as well as into the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions whose activities are wholly or substantially funded by the municipality.

Steering committee from both city councils

There is a direction group for the court of auditors. The composition was as follows: Mr. J. Gruijters (chairman) and Mr. Van Sinten (both on behalf of Laarbeek), and Ms. F. Dekker and Mr. W. van de Heuvel (on behalf of Gemert-Bakel). The Direction Group was supported by Mr. R. van Heijnsbergen and Ms. M. Laurenssen, Registrar of the Municipality of Gemert-Bakel.

The steering committee is involved in the selection of new topics, serves as a sounding board for the court of auditors and fulfills the role between the city councils and the court of auditors.

Meetings in 2023

Meetings of the court of auditors took place both physically and digitally. The Court of Audit held 16 meetings in the reporting year, including (digital) (sounding board) meetings with council members and with the direction group. There were also individual contact moments between the members themselves and between the members and the clerks, civil servants and third parties.

Planned investigations (not yet carried out)

Research grant policy Gemert-Bakel

For the municipality of Gemert-Bakel, the National Audit Office had planned to investigate the subject of subsidy provision (with regard to professional organizations) - in parallel with the review of subsidy policy by the municipality. During the research process, the Court of Audit decided to move the topic to a later date (see also : Annual Report 2022). This was initially due to the later start-up after corona, but afterwards it turned out that the municipality had suspended the review of the subsidy policy. As a result, continuing the research at that time was not convenient. This is not to say that the court of auditors did not work on this topic. The results of the (committed) preliminary research can be included in the research, which will be resumed in 2024, as the municipality resumes the revision of the subsidy policy.

Examination of Financial Statements; both municipalities

As a result of the investigations into the 2023 program budget, in both municipalities, the National Audit Office initially planned to investigate the Annual Reports of both municipalities in the spring of 2023 using the Duisenberg method. Unfortunately, because the draft Annual Reports became available late, this did not get off the ground. The court of auditors does intend to investigate the Annual Reports in the future.

Newly picked up studies (completion in 2024)

Continued development of SMART budget Gemert-Bakel

In 2022, the court of auditors examined the programmatic part (the programs) of the 2023 budget, of both municipalities, more specifically, the extent to which the three key w questions were developed therein:

1. what does the municipality want to achieve?
2. What is she going to do for that?
3. what will that cost?

It was about assessing how SMART this was done. Based on this study, Gemert-Bakel's college decided to start a process to make the 2024 budget much more SMART. A sample format of a policy budget was used in this process.
The court of auditors followed this process and conducted a sort of second opinion on the extent to which this further development was sufficient.
This study was completed in 2023, but its reporting took a bit longer than expected. At the end of May 2024, the report will be offered for rebuttal so that the report can be delivered at the end of June.

Research facilities; both municipalities

In August, a research design was created, which was created in part because of input from the direction group and other council members who participated in the sounding board group.
Then, in the fall, it turned out that collecting financial information in a similar way from benchmark municipalities led to problems; the implementation budgets were not tailored to this. The court of auditors then decided to collect this information (and information on provisions) from the municipalities involved via a questionnaire. This process was restarted in 2024/Q2.
The other necessary information (housing cost pressure, valuation of amenities and other housing attraction indicators) is already available.

Follow-through study; both municipalities

In the fall, preparations began for the two Follow-up Studies. This concerns the working through of published auditor's reports for the period 2019- 2022. For Gemert-Bakel this involves six studies, and for Laarbeek seven.
In the fall, the National Audit Office created formats with the relevant information about these studies, and requested the follow-up through the official organization. The latter was done in 2024/Q1.
At this point, the research has been completed, and both draft reports will be presented for official and administrative review at the end of May.

In October, the court of auditors made a new request to all political groups for possible topics for new research in 2024/2025. Before the Court of Audit took a final decision on these topics, the Steering Committee was consulted in December. This led to a final choice, in which the court of auditors followed the wishes of the direction group. By letter dated February 26, 2024, both councils were informed of this choice.
The new research themes are:

For Laarbeek:

• Responding to the aging population (this has already started with a focus group);

For Gemert-Bakel:

• Relationship between vision -> policy intentions -> implementation;

For both municipalities:

• Resident participation.

The Court of Audit carries out its work within the budget that the councils have made available for this purpose. In the Covenant Joint Court of Audit municipalities of Gemert-Bakel and Laarbeek it has been agreed that the participating municipalities make available an annual budget of € 1.00 per inhabitant. The implementation costs of the Court of Audit are charged to this budget. The committee has an official secretary and carries out the investigations in-house or together with hired external experts. This provides the following financial justification for 2023.

From the 2023 balance, in accordance with Article 12 paragraph 4 regulation (maximum transfer = 50% of annual budget), an amount of € 27,785 will be added to the 2024 budget.