RI Auditor Dennis Hoyle Retires After 42 Years

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (WPRI) — RI auditor Dennis Hoyle has retired after more than 40 years at a little-known state agency that other public agencies fear.

The longtime civil servant said Friday he officially retired from the Board of Audit after more than 42 years on Dec. 31. In 2010 Arnie succeeded Almonte as auditor for the past 13 years.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to lead the General Accountability Office for more than a decade and contribute to the statewide effort to strengthen accountability,” Hoyle said in a statement. . “I have had the opportunity to meet and learn from so many wonderful people throughout OAG and state and local governments.”

A congressional appointee, Hoyle oversaw the state’s audit function. Each year, he and his audit team analyzed state budgets, examined spending patterns, and conducted various individual audits of semipublic agencies.

Hoyle has a unique behind-the-scenes role in adhering to federal requirements, lobbying agencies to improve internal operations, and assisting states after government officials prematurely deploy disastrous integrated healthcare infrastructure projects. and spent much of his career as an auditor. Also known as UHIP.

He also recalled his experiences dealing with the banking crisis of the 1990s and researching the International Sports Institute.

At the local level, Hoyle was responsible for reviewing the financial health of cities and towns and often acted as a backstop whenever balance sheets crumbled. He and then General His Treasury Seth Magaziner also noted that locally administered pension schemes (often underfunded and straining city and town budgets) participate in state schemes. I advocated for the state to make it possible.

“This job has always been interesting, and being consistently engaged and challenged every day has been a gift,” he said.

In 2020, Hoyle famously embroiled himself in a scandal in the state legislature when then-Speaker of the House Nicholas Matiello tried to direct him to audit the RI Convention Center, while a friend of the speaker got into personnel trouble. Critics of the speaker said the audit was ordered for attempting to blackmail the leader of the complex.

Hoyle, who has never done an audit, is set to testify before a grand jury set up to investigate the matter. Mattiello was never indicted, but he was re-elected later that year and now works as a lobbyist for the state legislature.

David Bergantino, who has worked for state agencies for 26 years, will serve as Interim Auditor General. Hoyle said he would help with the transition.