City of San Diego Office of the City Auditor

We received a national award for our 2025 Performance Audit of the City’s Fleet Maintenance. This is OCA's 11th time winning this award, which is given to audits judged to be the best across the U.S. and Canada.

The ALGA Knighton Award-winning audit was praised for its strong root cause analysis of fleet preventive maintenance delays that could help manage rising costs at a time when the City is facing a budget deficit.

Implementation of the audit’s recommendations has already helped the City more than double the percent of on time maintenance and safety inspections to 85%, which will help avoid costly breakdowns and reduce the risk of vehicles operating unsafely.

The Knighton Award was presented to OCA at the annual Association of Local Government Auditors Conference. OCA staff also presented trainings to peer auditors on ways to make their audits more impactful and timely.

Award Letter:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/alga-2025-distinguished-knighton-award-letter.pdf
Read the Award-Winning Report:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/performance-audit-of-the-city-s-fleet-maintenance.pdf

The City’s brush management inspections program plays a critical role in protecting lives and property. Our audit examines the performance of the City’s efforts to mitigate wildfire risk on privately-owned parcels.

While not explicitly required by law, proactive brush management inspections conducted every 1-3 years are widely considered a best practice and a key control to prevent and limit wildfire damage. Approximately 220,000 parcels in the City are within a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. However, the Fire-Rescue Department’s (Fire-Rescue) Proactive Brush Management Program only focuses on 45,101 parcels.

Limited oversight and accountability are hindering the Proactive Brush Management Program. About 36% of 45,101 parcels had no documented inspection from Aug 2020–Sep 2025—meaning some areas may only be checked every 8–10 years.

The brush management program is hindered by inconsistent follow-through and limited enforcement. Of the 910 proactive inspections that identified violations between August 2020 and April 2025, only 82% had a documented reinspection, and no non-compliance penalties were assessed.

Report:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/performance-audit-of-brush-management-on-private-property.pdf

When the Unsafe Camping Ordinance passed in 2023, many stakeholders were uncertain of its potential consequences. We found the City’s Ordinance and the opening of safe sleeping sites appeared to reduce the number of people living in public spaces.

After the Ordinance, census counts showed that the unsheltered population decreased downtown and increased somewhat outside of downtown, but available shelter remained limited.

Most SDPD contacts for encampments resulted in field interviews. However, the number of contacts that ended in arrest slightly increased while the portion resulting in citations decreased.

City departments regularly collaborated to effectively respond to encampments and reduced response times to Get It Done encampment reports after the Ordinance, despite receiving more reports per month on average.

To ensure the City consistently stores valued items and to strengthen accessibility, we recommend that the City periodically review its list of items it will not store and provide access to its personal item impound notices in Spanish and other commonly spoken languages.

Report:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/performance-audit-of-the-city-s-response-to-homeless-encampments-since-the-unsafe-camping-ordinance.pdf

We follow up on the status of recommendation implementation every 6 months. During this reporting period, the City implemented 19 of our audit and investigative recommendations.

Newly implemented recommendations will help improve City programs & processes, as well as save the City money. For example, SDPD implemented part of a recommendation to centralize assignment and tracking of overtime. This is expected to save approximately $6.5 million in FY2026.

Newly implemented recommendations will also help the City: ensure vehicles receive timely preventative maintenance & inspections; improve response to disasters; ensure effective and consistent administration of contracts; & become more competitive for grants.

Given the City’s fiscal challenges, we identify 28 recommendations in the report that can provide a fiscal benefit to the City if implemented, such as increased revenues, reduced costs or significant efficiencies, or cost avoidance.

Report:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/recommendation-follow-up-report-period-ending-december-31-2025.pdf
Dashboard: https://www.sandiego.gov/auditor/reports/recommendation-follow-dashboard/all

Los destaques de nuestra Nueva Revisión de la Auditoría de Desempeño del 2012 del Proceso de Respuesta Médica a Emergencias del Departamento de Bomberos y Rescate ya está disponible en español. Léalos aquí:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/fire-rescue-department-s-emergency-medical-response-process-spanish-highlights.pdf

The City’s 911 dispatch system is vital to public safety, ensuring timely and appropriate emergency response. We found Fire-Rescue can enhance reporting to better inform City leadership on the process and should establish a metric to track turnout time.

Fire-Rescue’s current dispatch model reduces fire unit cancelations and preserves resources compared to the old process but increases response times for severe emergencies by an estimated 58 seconds. Reporting can provide City leaders with full visibility on these trade-offs.

From FY2023-FY2025, long turnout times delayed emergency response. Because turnout is the phase most within Fire-Rescue's control, creating a metric to track it is a cost-effective way to cut response times and ensure crew accountability.

Report:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/2026-high-risk-re-review-performance-audit-of-the-fire-rescue-department-s-emergency-medical-response-process.pdf

¡Queremos su opinión! ¿Qué programas y servicios de la Ciudad de San Diego cree que se beneficiarían de una evaluación independiente de desempeño? Visite https://tinyurl.com/encuestaOCA2026 para completar una breve encuesta con sus ideas antes del 10 de abril de 2026.

Nuestra oficina realiza auditorías de desempeño independientes y objetivas que buscan mejorar la eficiencia, la eficacia y la equidad de la Ciudad. Anualmente, evaluamos los riesgos en las operaciones municipales y seleccionamos áreas que se beneficiarían de una auditoría.

Para obtener más información sobre nuestro trabajo y los beneficios positivos que tiene para los residentes consulte los siguientes enlaces.
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/fy2026-annual-risk-assessment-and-audit-work-plan.pdf
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/2025-accomplishments-report.pdf

We want to hear from you! Which City of San Diego programs and services do you think would benefit from an independent audit? Visit https://tinyurl.com/OCASurvey2026 to complete a brief survey with your ideas by April 10, 2026.

We perform independent & objective performance audits that seek to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of City government. Each year, we conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to identify City programs and functions that would most benefit from a performance audit.

For examples of the types of audits we perform and the positive benefits they have for our residents and taxpayers, as well as how we conduct our annual risk assessment and select audit topics, please see the following links:
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/fy2026-annual-risk-assessment-and-audit-work-plan.pdf
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/2025-accomplishments-report.pdf

We are currently hiring! We are hiring for a Performance Auditor position and an Operations Assistant position.
Job posting for the role of Performance Auditor: https://governmentjobs.com/careers/sandiego/jobs/5210426/performance-auditor-office-of-the-city-auditor-601-unclassified
Job posting for the role of Operations Assistant: https://governmentjobs.com/careers/sandiego/jobs/5210516/operations-assistant-office-of-the-city-auditor-602-unclassified

Operations Assistant - Office of the City Auditor - 602 (Unclassified) *Please Note: Current City employees must apply through SuccessFactors*The PositionThe Office of the City Auditor (OCA) is seeking a versatile and detail-oriented Operations Assistant to join a team that serves as our department’s operational backbone. This dynamic role combines office administrat...

OCA had yet another successful year in 2025. We issued 16 reports and made 80 recommendations to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of our City government. Management agreed to implement 100% of recommendations made in 2025. Implementing these will help improve accountability & customer service, reduce & recover costs, increase public safety, & enhance efficiency.

Recent recommendations will help the City better prepare for & pursue grants, better plan for future disasters, increase availability of City vehicles, minimize financial strain from Fire-Rescue overtime, improve KPI usefulness, & more. See the Impact section for additional details on the positive impacts of our recent recommendations.

Our Fraud Investigators managed 349 reports filed with our Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline. We have also been working with Management to develop online trainings for City employees to increase awareness.

Carissa Nash, Principal Performance Auditor, won the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) Rising Star Award, which recognizes the best and brightest among newer local government audit professionals. This is the 11th time ALGA has recognized OCA & staff for excellence.

This year, we enhanced our interactive Recommendation Follow-Up Dashboard with status information on approximately 1,500 recommendations OCA has made since its inception in 2009.

OCA is audited every 3 years by other auditors in a process called Peer Review. In December 2025, we received the highest possible rating. The team concluded that our quality control system is adequate & operating effectively to ensure compliance with auditing standards.

In 2026, we have audits in progress on the City’s management of its leased golf properties; Fire-Rescue’s dispatch process; brush management on private property; the Unsafe Camping Ordinance; Citywide vehicle rentals; arts & culture funding equity; streetlight equity; & more.

Read our 2025 Accomplishments Report here:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/2025-accomplishments-report.pdf
ALGA Rising Star Award:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/rising-star-recipients-association-of-local-government-auditors-carissa.pdf
Recommendation Follow-Up Dashboard: https://www.sandiego.gov/auditor/reports/recommendation-follow-dashboard/all
Peer Review:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/peer_review_report_july_1_2022_through_june_30_2025.pdf
FY2026 Audit Work Plan:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/fy2026-annual-risk-assessment-and-audit-work-plan.pdf

Los destaques de nuestra Auditoría de Desempeño de los Fondos para la Mejora de los Parques Regionales de Mission Bay y San Diego, Año Fiscal 2024, ya está disponible en español. Léalos aquí:https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/mission-bay-report-fy2024-spanish-highlights.pdf