Fraud and waste at Toronto City Hall seems to be a significant problem.

The city’s auditor general is reporting a record number of fraud and waste allegations as part of the annual audit into wrongdoing within the city’s workforce, leading to the firing of some city workers and even police prosecution.

The report reveals the AG’s office received 1,054 complaints via its reporting hotline last year, representing 1450 allegations, the highest number since the program began in 2002.

“We cannot afford, literally to have people defraud the taxpayers of the City of Toronto and have waste,” City Councillor Josh Matlow said in reaction.

Fellow councillor, Paula Fletcher, also a regular panelist on Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer, says “We do need every dollar, and we do need to say, if you’re going to break the rules we’re going to catch you.”

The allegations of fraud implicated municipal staff, residents and companies doing business with the City of Toronto.

In total, a dozen city workers were disciplined last year for fraud and waste, including a municipal employee who was fired for using sick days to work shifts at another job.

The auditor pegs the total loss to fraud and waste over the last five years at nearly $30-million.