Budgeting and planning will be the new buzz words around the Wellington North council table if councillor Andy Lennox has his way.
And following a presentation on Monday night on the pros and cons of different approaches to budgeting, Lennox, also chairman of the township’s finance committee, received some strong support.
“In all my years on council it’s certainly one of the best presentations I’ve seen,” said veteran councillor and former township finance chairman Dan Yake, who endorsed Lennox’s move for a different approach to municipal budgeting and planning.
In his presentation, Lennox said steps have already been taken in council’s first year to streamline the budget process. According to him, a five-year plan for operating costs and 20-year capital projections are in place.
Budget preparations are already underway for the 2012 budget and Lennox said he expects the township budget will be ready by the end of February, considerably sooner than under previous councils.
“We (council) issued the challenge and staff got busy and made it work,” Lennox said of the operating and capital plans.
“Most departments submitted full budget proposals and met new deadlines. More analysis (is) being done and presented to council when it comes to spending our tax dollars.”
The finance chairman said the 2012 budget process showed the township needs to spend about $5 million annually on infrastructure and debt repayment.
“We should be spending $5 million a year just to maintain the infrastructure we have,” Lennox said. “Annually we’re short about $2 million to maintain our infrastructure, moving forward.”
Lennox isn’t anticipating any financial assistance from the county or provincial or federal levels of government, but he said if external grant programs materialize the township needs to be positioned to take advantage of them.
An option to address the shortfall would be a tax increase of 36 per cent, which “would place our municipality in an uncompetitive situation,” Lennox said.
Another option council could look at to cover the $2 million shortfall could be to cut services. It’s an option being explored in Toronto by new Mayor Rob Ford that is popular with the public, but difficult to sustain, Lennox said.
He is advocating a combination of options, including a commitment to firm targets and schedules with finances set out to meet goals and long-term solutions.
“First and foremost we need strategic planning setting some big-picture goals. It requires a medium to long-term game plan supported by council, senior staff and ratepayers,” he said in his presentation. “It’s going to take resources (to) foster the culture to facilitate learning new methods (and) provide the tools to support new methods.
“Change is needed to begin filling the gap (shortfall), to position our community for the future, to ensure the financial sustainability of our community (and) to obtain best value for tax dollars,” Lennox added.
He also put out a challenge to council: “Council must agree change is needed, begin pro-active planning and goal setting, discuss and evaluate change options, commit to change options for a medium to long-term game plan, (and) ensure appropriate resources and attitudes to effect change, are in place.”
He also urged council to “set measurable targets and progress, ensure decisions are consistent with the plan, celebrate success and recognize contributions people make, be prepared to explain and discuss decisions with reasons (and) communicate with all stakeholders.”
The suggestions were endorsed by council. Mayor Ray Tout said council has to support changes in the way business was done in the past, or “We’re going to be stagnant.”
“I’ll take you up on your challenge,” Councillor Sherry Burke said.
“The true test will come when the budget is released to the public at the end of February,” councillor Mark Goetz said.
“It’s important to have this communication with the public,” Goetz said.
