EDITORIAL: Auditor wraps up examination of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

Officials with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have spent months pooh-poohing the findings of an April Review-Journal investigative series about the organization’s lavish spending habits. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman even suggested recently that the authority should be above scrutiny because of Southern Nevada’s booming convention business.

But no public agency — particularly one that spends $115 million in taxpayer funds each year — should expect to be exempt from examination. It’s good news, then, that an independent auditor tasked with poring over agency expenditures in the wake of the newspaper’s report understands the value of accountability and transparency.

RJ stories on the authority’s practices “keep people on their toes,” said Ralph Piercy, a partner in the accounting firm Piercy Bowler Taylor &Kern, adding that “it’s a good thing to hold people accountable.”

Mr. Piercy, whose firm was paid $15,000 to conduct the review, presented his recommendations to an authority board this week. The findings will be made public next month. Boyd Gaming executive Willian Noonan, who heads the convention authority’s audit committee, said the report “made some good recommendations on how we could be more efficient and how we can firm up our policies.”

Good. The fact that Las Vegas is among the nation’s top convention locales doesn’t mean the authority should be given carte blanche with taxpayer money. We look forward to the details of the audit in the coming weeks.