David asks: Shouldn't we do this more than four times a year?

NEWS RELEASE

DAVID POLUCK, WARD 3 CANDIDATE

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The City Council Finance Committee is an under-utilized vehicle for budgetary planning, discussion and consultation.

If elected as councillor for Ward 3, I will recommend and seek support for expanding the role and frequency of Finance Committee meetings so there can be more meaningful and open dialogue into the process of municipal spending and taxation.

• Is it enough for the Finance Committee to simply have two budget input sessions for the public in late November?
• Is it satisfactory to simply say that residents are welcomed to submit their budget suggestions any time they wish?
• Is it sufficient for a committee for financial discussion to meet only four times a year?

The committee currently consists of four members of City Council and three senior city staff.

This group of seven constitute the voting members of the committee.

The CAO and the Mayor also sit as non-voting members of the committee.

Meetings beyond the slated four times may be authorized by the chair at the request of any member of the committee, at the request of the City’s auditors, or at the request of any member of council.

The Finance Committee must fulfill its responsibility more effectively and be the vehicle where critical fiscal issues and challenges are brought forward and thoroughly discussed and assessed throughout the year.

At the very least, the committee needs to meet on a monthly basis so that important fiscal issues such as property taxation, discretionary spending, asset management, fiscal impact of arbitration and reductions in provincial grants are discussed publicly, thoroughly, on an ongoing basis, and well in advance of the 2015 budget.

In early February of this year, City Finance Department staff fulfilled their public duty and released a preliminary budget nine weeks prior to final budget deliberations.

This was a welcomed initiative by the City Finance Department.

However, Council members of the Finance Committee did not meet publicly or hold public hearings throughout that entire nine-week period.

We must ensure when the next preliminary budget is released, that councillors who are members of the Finance Committee fully exercise their role and responsibility to examine, hold public hearings and make recommendations on the many important elements of the preliminary budget that may or may not require adjustment, addition or removal.

As candidate for Ward 3, I have outlined plans for regular Ward 3 Town Hall meetings as a venue for public interaction.

I would expect fiscal and economic issues to emerge as key subject areas at those meetings.

I believe it crucial that the next council as a whole ensure that an important council committee, the Finance Committee, is maximized to its full potential when it comes to budgetary planning and consultation.

One-time final budget deliberations in April cannot continue to be the sole council forum where such important fiscal issues are openly discussed.

We have an important tool called the Finance Committee.

It’s time we used it more effectively on behalf of the residents of this community.

If council members of the next Finance Committee continue down the same status quo path as in recent years, then it can only be viewed as a continuing abdication of an important responsibility for a community that deserves better.

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