He said in an interview that the committee has been organized through Brookfield First, a local grassroots organi­zation. In addition to Mr. Standt; its members are Kerry Swift, a member of the recent ad-hoc Long Range Planning Committee that the selectmen appointed, and Donald Groff, a former geology professor at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury and a former member of local land-use commissions.
Mr. Standt said that the committee welcomes other members, noting that they do not have to be members of Brookfield First.
Mr. Standt said the citizens' audit will take several months, since considerable work will take place as the committee members seek documents from every department in the municipal government.
"We're going to look at the end result," he said. "We're going to look at how much money comes in and how much comes out."
Mr. Standt, who ran for first selectman in 1997, said that the audit will at least be partly modeled upon a booklet titled "How To Reduce Property Taxes With A Citizens Audit Committee," which was de­­veloped by Armand Fusco, a former superintendent of schools in Branford, and Lewis Andrews, a senior policy analyst, and sponsored by the Yankee Institute, which is based in Hartford, and the Non-Partisan Action For a Better Redding.
He said the committee is also using as a guide a study by an external audit committee on the Enfield Board of Education.
Mr. Standt said he has distributed both documents to the three candidates for first selectmen-Democratic nominee Bill Davidson, petitioning candidate Ernie Nepomuceno and Republican nominee Bill Tinsley.
Mr. Standt said he expects the committee will complete its work in 2010.
The concept of doing a citizens audit was first discussed publicly late last year.
At the time, town Treasurer David Scribner noted that Brookfield has a professional auditing firm conduct a thorough annual audit.
He noted that the town has received awards in recent years for its financial reporting and accounting procedures.
The booklet from the Yankee Institute states that municipal governments sometimes balk at citizens audits.
"Officials will argue that the work of CACs [citizens audit committees] needlessly duplicates that of town and school accountants," the authors wrote. "In truth, existing audits mean little, because waste and mismanagement are not covered."
"How did it go out?" Mr. Standt said regarding expenditures of the town government and the school district. "Nobody asks."
"In business, you know where the money goes and what's happening," said the longtime Brookfield resident, who served on the finance board from 1995 to 2003.
Mr. Scribner has said that the municipal government has done an excellent job of accounting and managing its finances.
He has noted that Brookfield has received praise from its financial advisers and the town has had a coveted AA2 bond rating since 1997.
"I think after we complete our audit they will understand that they can do things differently," Mr. Standt said.