Two-thirds of every dollar spent on city operations goes to pay salaries and benefits, the report found.

Since then, council has moved on a number of action items to get Brampton back on track, including introducing a special 2 per cent levy for infrastructure upkeep.

The city’s roster of employees was also significantly reduced last year after Schlange pulled the trigger on a major restructuring of the bureaucratic class.

Claims by councillors opposed to Jeffrey's plans are not supported by reporting to council on the financial health of the city since Schlange took over. There have been little to no reports by staff on issues such as debt financing, reserve fund balances, capital cost projections, labour costs and the management of the city's aging infrastructure.

During her state of the city address in February, Jeffrey told a room full of business leaders that she would seek council's blessing to reappoint McCarter to review Brampton’s finances.

On Wednesday, the mayor talked up the need for a re-evaluation of the city’s management plans.

“At the time he (McCarter) talked about containing our costs, dealing with our infrastructure, making sure we had enough reserves set aside, and I think the number of changes that we’ve made are significant, they are substantive, and I think they have been well received by the public,” said Jeffrey, adding McCarter can help local leaders determine “the next steps we can do in order to improve our financial status, our resiliency and our flexibility on a move forward basis.”

But the mayor’s pitch for reappointing the former Ontario auditor general fell flat with some councillors including those who questioned the merits of hiring McCarter the first time.

“I think we are doing a pretty good job right now. Not that we were never doing a good job, but I think we are doing a good job and constituents need to hear that,”said Gibson, downplaying major issues that have plagued the city in recent years. The city has been subjected to a number of audits and investigations and is currently locked in a $28.5 million lawsuit with a developer over a major downtown development.

Coun. Jeff Bowman argued such scrutiny is premature given the city’s senior executive team under Schlange has been together for about a year.

Others spoke in favour of the mayor’s plans.

“When Mr. McCarter gave his report, I don’t believe there were minor findings. We have done a lot of planning and made a lot of major decisions based on those recommendations,” said Coun. Gurpreet Dhillon, in support of Jeffrey’s motion.

