(a) All officers and employees of New Castle County, and all departments, offices, boards, activities, subcontractors, agencies, and instrumentalities thereof which are the subject of an audit by the County Auditor, shall furnish the County Auditor with unrestricted access to employees, information, and records (including automated data) within their custody regarding powers, duties, activities, organization, property, financial transactions, contracts, and methods of business required by the Auditor to conduct an audit or otherwise perform the County Auditor's audit duties. In addition, the County Auditor shall be given complete access to all property, equipment, facilities, data, and documents within the custody or control of the person or entity subject to the audit. The County Auditor may photograph, photocopy, or otherwise record anything the County Auditor feels is necessary to accomplish the purposes of the audit. All contracts with outside contractors and subcontractors shall provide for access by the County Auditor to all financial and performance related records, property and equipment purchased in whole or part with County funds.
(b) If the County Auditor is at any time denied or restricted in the County Auditor's access to information described in subsection (a) of this section, the County Auditor may initiate a search to be made and exhibits to be taken from any book, paper, or record of or relating to any officer, employee, department, office, board, activity, subcontractor, agency, or instrumentality which is the subject of an audit by the County Auditor, except as otherwise provided by statute.
(c) The County Auditor shall not publicly disclose any information received during an audit that is considered confidential or proprietary in nature, or has been specifically identified as such by a federal, state, or local law or regulation. Information received by the County Auditor during an audit, to the extent it is not included or referenced in the report prepared by the County Auditor pursuant to § 1405 of this title, shall be exempt from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (Chapter 100 of Title 29), unless such information was subject to public disclosure in its original form.
(d) For the purposes of this section only, “County Auditor” includes any Assistant County Auditor, employee of the County Auditor, or agent of the County Auditor who is undertaking an audit at the direction or under the authority of the County Auditor.