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Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Minutes 18 19 October 2004 |
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Comité des services organisationnels et du
dévéloppement économique Procès-verbal
18 le 19
octobre 2004 |
Re: Long Range Financial Plan 2,
see item 1 for
minute of the questions/discussion.
1. Results
of Consultations on Budget Directions
and Recommended 2005 Budget Directions
Résultats des consultations sur les directives
budgétaires et directives budgétaires recommandées
de 2005
ACS2004-CMR-OCM-0018
Moved by Councillor M. McRae
That the Corporate Services and
Economic Development Committee approve the addition of this item for
consideration by the Committee at today’s meeting, pursuant to Section 81(3) of
the Procedure By-law (being By-law No. 2003-589).
CARRIED
Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager,
spoke to a PowerPoint presentation, which provided the Committee with a brief
overview of the staff report. A copy of
this presentation is held on file with the City Clerk.
Vince Bevan, Chief of Police, Ottawa
Police Service (OPS), spoke to the OPS component of the City of Ottawa’s 2005
budget. He introduced OPS Director
General, Debra Frazer, who then spoke to a PowerPoint slide presentation, which
provided the Committee with a brief overview of the 2005 Budget Background, in
terms of Budgetary Environment, Meeting Financial Challenges, Return on
Staffing Investments, Budget Pressures and Solutions, and Next Steps. A copy of this presentation is held on file
with the City Clerk.
The Committee then heard from the
following public delegations.
Charlyn Monahan, President, Ottawa
Carleton Child Care Council, indicated the childcare community strongly supports the development of
the children’s agenda and the City’s commitment to move forward towards the
20/20 vision. Ms. Monahan said that as
of 2003, only 6.5% of children between the ages of 0 and 9 have access to
licensed childcare spaces in Ottawa.
The Ontario provincial average is 12.5%. She noted in both the satisfaction survey and the workbook
exercise childcare services ranked very high. Ms. Monahan went on to speak about the infusion of both federal
and provincial dollars ($4.3M) for childcare in the City of Ottawa and said
that in order to reap the benefits of these funds, the City must cost share 20%
(i.e. a total of $1.9M for both 2004 and 2005). She urged the City to take advantage of this opportunity.
Peter Tilley, Executive Director,
Ottawa Food Bank
spoke of the unprecedented levels of demand for the services that many of the
agencies the Food Bank supports in the community, have been experiencing this
year. He noted that 6 years ago, the
Food Bank sent out $6M worth of food into the Ottawa community (to 67 agencies)
and to date this year they have sent out $10M worth of food (to 103 emergency
food programs. Mr. Tilley pointed out
as well, that many other organizations are referring agencies and individuals
to the Food Bank. He said the Food Bank
had been very successful in their fundraising efforts and have increased their
efficiency in running the Food Bank but stated this ongoing requirement to
address hunger would require more from everyone, including the City.
Mayor Chiarelli estimated the City’s
population has grown by over 100,000 people in the six-year period referred to
by Mr. Tilley. He felt it would be
beneficial for the Food Bank in collaboration with Steve Kanellakos, Deputy
City Manager, Community and Protective Services to do an analysis to determine
how much of this pressure for increased food is coming from the normal
incidents of having an additional 100,000 people in the City and how much is
due to additional economic hardship.
The Mayor also felt the Food Bank should have approached the City for
assistance when they began to experience the great demand in the last month.
Mr. Tilley advised that two years previous,
the Food Bank received a $15,000 grant from HRDC to carry out a survey. He said what they found was the number of
working people (i.e. for minimum wage) using Food Banks, had doubled in the
last five years. As well, there has
been an increase in people with disabilities using the Food Bank.
Councillor J. Legendre indicated he
was trying to understand what this increased demand is telling us about our
society, so that the root cause of the problem ( i.e. that causes the need for
the Food Bank to grow) might be addressed.
He asked that Mr. Tilley forward to him, information on this.
Trina Daniels and Alexa Cochrane, addressed the Committee with their
concerns about daycare subsidies. Ms.
Daniels advised that as a single parent, subsidized daycare has permitted her
to have her son in a licensed daycare.
This has allowed her to build up her business, become economically
self-sufficient and contribute to the community. She said without subsidized daycare, she would not have been able
to work, would likely be living close to the poverty line and quite possibly on
social assistance. Ms. Daniels
expressed concern with the McDonald report’s findings that Ottawa, as a result
of 10-years of service cuts and tax freezes, is lagging behind most other cities. She urged the Committee to listen to the
public and re-invest in Ottawa and its people.
Ms. Cochrane said as a single mother
of a four-year old child, she has used subsidized daycare for 4 years. This has allowed her to finish her
university and college degrees and she is now working full time. Ms. Cochrane said her son is in the Child
Care Network and she uses this also as a support system for herself and her
son.
Jeanne-Françoise Moué and Kim Trottier on behalf of a Francophone Committee of Drop-In Centres, Women’s Organizations and Community Centres. (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Moué and Ms. Trottier spoke to the Committee about the lack of funding the City provides for services geared to francophone women in Ottawa. They indicated there is plenty of support for organizations serving Anglophone women and they referenced the City’s Official Plan that states the City will not discriminate on the basis of sex, skin colour, etc. They urged the Committee to ensure that in the budget, funds are equitably distributed.
Councillor Legendre encouraged the delegation to contact the French Language Services Advisory Committee, to arrange for their organization to be placed on an upcoming agenda for that Committee.
Eric McSweeny, Chair, Greater Ottawa
Chamber of Commerce (GOCC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. McSweeny addressed the issue of the high
rate of taxes businesses pay in Ottawa.
He spoke of how this is impacting negatively on business, causing some
to relocate their business out of Ottawa.
He said although his organization would like to see a decrease in taxes,
they would settle for a tax freeze at 2004 rates. Mr. McSweeny offered the following solutions: 1) set a Capital
budget cap; 2) get control of personnel expenditures; 3) instruct
administration to eat inflation annually; and, 4) look for alternative forms of
service delivery.
Councillor Legendre encouraged the
GOCC to look into the Crime Prevention Initiative, which he felt would help to
control the ever-increasing Police budget.
Christina Tessier, Bytown Museum, (Written
presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms.
Tessier spoke to the Committee about the importance of maintaining funding
levels for community and City-owned museums and other heritage organizations.
She noted the Bytown Museum was working with the Nepean Museum on a
number of events to celebrate Ottawa’s 150th birthday next
year. However, cuts to heritage funding
in the 2005 budget would greatly impact their ability to carry out these events
and would also reduce their ability to leverage funding from other levels of
government and the private sector. She
urged the Committee to maintain the current funding levels.
At this juncture (12:10 p.m.), the
Committee recessed for lunch and resumed at 1:10 p.m.
Carole Gagnon, Chair, Seniors’
Advisory Committee (SAC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Gagnon indicated the SAC had identified
three broad areas of concern for seniors, namely: programs, housing and
transportation. Among the many points
she raised, were the following: no cuts to health/public health and prevention
programs for seniors; no increase in user fees for seniors; increase funding
for Para Transpo; expand the Aging in Place model to more seniors’ apartment
buildings; and, investigate programs for isolated seniors. Ms. Gagnon stated the SAC would continue to
bring forward solutions to these priorities for seniors.
Gwen Bell, Chair, Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk) Ms. Bell indicated the following were some of the priorities the AAC would like to see considered in the budget: rollback user fees to previous levels; maintain cost-shared program for homemaking services; reinstate Nepean/Gloucester handi-van service; restore one-time community grants; link the budget process to the 20/20 vision; use new revenues to the reinstate or enhance social programs; and, reinstate or enhance funding for accessibility retrofitting of City-owned buildings. She also spoke of the need for accessibility standards to apply to all new construction permits and for funding to allow persons with disabilities that need special support (e.g. sign language, etc.) to sit on the AAC sub-committees.
Gary McDonnell, Vice-Chair, Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee (EDAC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. McDonnell referenced a motion EDAC had approved the previous evening in which they endorsed the Summary Report of the Health and Social Services Advisory Committee, the Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Poverty Issues Advisory. Specifically, EDAC supports the following recommendations in that report: budget allocations should reflect the 20/20 vision; user fees are a burden on vulnerable residents; investments in social programs result in a sustainable and inclusive City; one-time community grants should be restored; the 2004 budget should not be a baseline for the 2005 budget; and, citizen engagement is a priority and participation should be accessible.
Linda Lalonde, Poverty Issues Advisory Committee (PIAC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Lalonde expressed concerns with the process and particularly with the consultations. She suggested the City should schedule a couple of briefing sessions for all advisory committee members now, to take place when the draft budget is released next month. She felt a number of the tools used in the consultation process were not particularly helpful to the community served by PIAC (e.g. the workbook, the EKOS survey). Ms. Lalonde reviewed the recommendations in the staff report and offered PIAC’s comments on Directions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.
Councillor Cullen noted the staff recommendations
indicate that with increases to user fees, there would be a commensurate
increase in the subsidy for low-income families. He asked if staff would be coming forward with an analysis of the
adequacy of the subsidy. Mr. Kanellakos
advised that staff will be reporting back to Committee and Council with an
analysis of what the increase to the subsidy would have be (depending on the
option chosen) to ensure the continuation of the program. The report will also contain detailed
background information on the program and information on previous years’
experiences in terms of adequacy of funding.
Vice Chair McRae indicated she would
like to speak with the delegation “off-line” with respect to the attachment to
her submission. In particular, she was
very concerned with the calculation that a single person on Ontario Works would
have only $240 (or less) annually to spend on things other than food and
shelter.
Paul Koch, Chair and Bill Pugsley, Member, Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Koch outlined the EAC’s recommendations contained in their submission and encouraged Committee and Council to adopt these approaches in order to achieve the actions it committed to in its Environmental Strategy (adopted by Council in 2003). The five recommendations (briefly stated) were: adopt “triple bottom line” into all corporate decision making; apply the principles of the Natural Step in day to day activities and participate in the Natural Step Canada’s Sustainable Communities Program; select a modeling tool for integrated planning; funding to accelerate the development of the City’s Quality of Life Indicators, Ecological Footprint and Report Cards; and, implement potential opportunities for authority (in the updated City of Ottawa Act) to achieve a more sustainable community.
Christine Tremblay, Member, Arts,
Heritage and Culture Advisory Committee (AHCAC) spoke also on behalf of Arts Ottawa East
(formerly Gloucester Arts Council). Ms.
Tremblay noted that 2004 was a divisive year for the arts community, pitting
community organizations against each other.
She indicated a recent roundtable discussion led by Mr. Kanellakos and
attended by many community leaders, resulted in some very clear messages
namely, that the City should follow the 20/20 growth plan; community partners
should be supported and valued; build and maintain cross-sector dialogue (i.e.
they should not have to come back year after year with the same message); and,
ensure that the budget strikes a balance between the different and important
services in the City. She urged the
Committee to move ahead with the cultural initiatives to achieve the goals set
out in the Arts and Heritage Master Plans by the year 2020.
Fiona Faucher, Vice Chair, Health
and Social Services Advisory Committee (HSSAC) Ms. Faucher noted that HSSAC decided to
participate in the budget directions process by hosting a consultative session
(along with PIAC and AAC) on October 7th and the Summary Report of
this session was submitted to the City prior to the October 14th
deadline. She commented the compressed
time-line provided for consultation on the budget directions, gave Advisory
Committees very little time to organize a roundtable and then convey the results
to staff. The six key themes that
emerged from the session were: the budget allocations should reflect values and
principles of Ottawa 20/20; user fees form a disproportionate burden on low
income and vulnerable people; social program expenditures are sound investments
in a sustainable and inclusive city; one-time community grants should be
restored; time; ensure that 2004 does not form a base for the 2005 budget; and,
citizen engagement is priority.
Susan Flemming, Vintage Stock Theatre (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Flemming stated she was a founding member and President of Vintage Stock Theatre, a non-profit theatre company that produces original plays based on Canada’s history and heritage. She advised Committee that of her daily tax bill of $5.38 (in the rural area, former City of Cumberland), only three cents is allocated to cultural spending. Ms. Flemming pointed out that the message coming out of the consultation process is clear that a majority of residents place a high value on all of their services including the under-funded areas of arts, culture and heritage. She urged the Committee and Council to increase overall funding for arts, cultural and heritage programs.
Iola Price, Chair, Ottawa Forests
and Greenspace Advisory Committee (OFGAC) (Written presentation held
on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Price
expressed concerns about the documentation provided (e.g. documentation on the
Capital Works Program and information on the level of funding available for the
2005 budget was not made available).
She spoke of the importance of trees to the City, outlined the impacts
of 2004 budget cuts on trees and forests and relayed OFGAC’s recommendations
that funding for the various tree and forest programs be reinstated or
maintained. Ms. Price urged the
Committee and Council to support the retention and maintenance of trees,
forests and greenspace in Ottawa and the acquisition of new greenspace.
Judy Sarginson, Executive Director
Youville Centre & Kelly Toner, Health Promoter for Youth, South-East Ottawa
Centre for a Healthy Community on behalf of the P.O.P.C.O.R.N. Group, a network of 28 youth-serving
agencies. (Written presentation
held on file with the City Clerk). Ms.
Sarginson indicated the POPCORN Group could help the City in achieving its
goals of having community-based organizations deliver programs efficiently to
those in need. She suggested the past
cooperation POPCORN has had with the City, be built upon and that they move to
a process of collaboration. Ms. Toner
noted in collaborating with the POPCORN Group the City could reduce duplication
of services and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of current services.
Gail Mounteer, President, Board of
Directors, Greenboro Community Centre (Written presentation held on file with
the City Clerk). Ms. Mounteer requested that the City
reinstate the Community Partnership Minor Capital Program, a program that cost
the City $300,000 and was matched by funds from community groups and sports
organizations, to build play structures, develop parks, etc. She stated this program encouraged
community involvement and saved the City a great deal of money on these
necessary fixed assets.
Rabeya Klein, City for All Women Initiative – Housing Sub-Committee (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). She noted her group represented women who are homeless, women fleeing abuse, immigrant women and women (in particular sole-support mothers) facing housing/financial crisis due to the inadequate supply of affordable housing. Ms. Klen explained the main concerns of her group and indicated they were asking the City to: provide funding in the 2005 budget for housing and homelessness programs; work with relevant stakeholders to develop a real solution for homelessness; ensure adequate supply of emergency shelters and supported housing for women; increase supply of subsidized housing; eliminate arbitrary criteria for priority status for subsidized housing for women fleeing abuse; and strengthen the City’s 20/20 plan to ensure that a fixed percentage of all new housing in Ottawa is “affordable”.
Carol Burrows, President, Council on
Aging Ms. Burrows noted that 12% of the
population in Ottawa is 65 years and older and the percentage is increasing
rapidly. She spoke of recent projects
the Council on Aging has undertaken (e.g. working with the Police Department to
train officers in dealing with issues of elder abuse; a guide to selecting a
long-term care facility; a guide to hospitals, etc. Ms. Burrows spoke of the effect that the erosion of the grant
funding has had on small agencies and she asked that the City reinstate the
one-time community grants this year.
Mayor Chiarelli suggested that the
Board of the Council on Aging review Section 3 of the Budget Directions
document (i.e. the recommendation for enhanced funding for community
programming). He asked that the Board
formulate a specific proposal of how the senior sector’s needs can be met and
make this available to staff and Committee.
David Jeanes, Transport 2000 indicated he wished to draw
attention to the importance of transit as one of the City’s core services. He spoke of the poor process used in the
2004 budget to deal with transit (i.e. transit cuts were not communicated to
the public during the early ward meetings) and he stressed the importance of
having an open process and one that involves the public in all aspects of
transport planning (e.g. fares, fuel conservation, etc.). He also spoke of the importance of having
the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee review the draft budget. Mr. Jeanes stated it was important to
consider the operating costs as well as the capital costs, as it does not make
sense to increase the bus fleet if the City cannot afford to pay for drivers or
fuel. He said it is also very important
when considering the role of transit that the City look at (in addition to
usage of bus routes), the function they perform in supporting business,
employment, quality of life, education, health care, recreation and the
accessibility network.
Colin Stuart, Chair Board of
Directors Somerset Community Health Centre and Carol Silcoff, Board Member
Centretown Community Health Services on behalf of the Ottawa Coalition of
Community Health and Resource Centres (Written presentation held on file with
the City Clerk). Mr. Stuart referenced
Direction 2 of the staff report (enhancement of key services) and noted his
organization was encouraged and very supportive of these recommendations. Mr. Stuart pointed out that Ottawa is at the midpoint or somewhere below
other cities (in terms of services) and he suggested this was due to taxes
being frozen for the last 12 years. He
said his organization would support prudent and moderate tax increases.
Ms. Silcoff spoke of the numerous
services offered by the community health and resource centres and stated that
cutting services is bad but capping service funding is not the answer
either. She said while there is a
recommendation to restore some services that were cut last year, (which she
supported) there are community needs in other areas that are not being
met. The City’s modest investment (i.e.
$371,000 per centre) is essential to the health of the citizens of Ottawa.
Michael Rikley (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Rikely spoke of the importance of cultural services to the community and noted they are particularly important as an educational tool for youth. He encouraged the Committee and Council to maintain funding for culture.
John Devries, Ottawa Construction Association, representing 870 construction firms, stressed that delaying infrastructure, costs the City more money in the long run. He expressed support for the staff report that indicates there is a backlog on infrastructure and on building and he encouraged Committee and Council to carry through on this.
Councillor Stavinga asked that staff provide members of the Committee (prior to Thursday’s deliberation) with copies of the presentation made by the National Capital Heavy Construction Association to the Long Range Financial Plan Sub-committee on 8 October 2004.
Meg Hamilton, Manager, Council of Heritage Organizations in Ottawa (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Hamilton advised the Committee of the importance of local heritage to the City of Ottawa. She urged Committee and Council to maintain levels of funding for local archives, museums, historical societies and heritage service organizations in the 2005 budget.
Jenny Gullen, Social Planning Council (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Gullen emphasized that a strong network of community-based organizations exists in Ottawa and they are able to continue to work very efficiently and effectively to address the community’s needs and the City’s goals, if they are provided with adequate funding. She stressed the importance of these community organizations being recognized in the 2005 budget.
Valerie Collicott - Women’s Initiatives for a Safer Environment (WISE) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Collicott spoke of the work done by her group (i.e. community safety audits and Personal Safety Workshops) and stated WISE did not want to see any reductions in funding to agencies. She also expressed several concerns about the City being requested to provide funding to a Panel on Crime Prevention. She suggested this money instead be distributed among existing agencies to expand their programs. In conclusion, Ms. Collicott urged the Committee to enhance funding to existing services.
Tony Keith - Rockcliffe Park Residents Association (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Keith spoke to three issues: 1) fees for use of community centres (i.e. fees be waived for volunteers delivering activities of public benefit); 2) maintenance of public green spaces; and 3) maintaining street trees.
Mayor Chiarelli noted the staff report contained a recommendation for enhanced funding for key services, including introducing community project funding. He asked Mr. Keith if he or other leaders in his community might want to speak to staff to find out what is contemplated in that and whether there might not be a community project that could address some of the concerns he raised. Mr. Keith indicated he would do so.
Diane Urqhart, Community Coalition for Persons with Disabilities, put forward four points for the Committee’s consideration. First, she pointed out the Ontarians With Disabilities Act (OWD Act) requires cities to move forward with their Municipal Action Plan and there will be some funding required for this in the 2005 budget. Second, Ms. Urqhart encouraged the City, when having to choose one strategy over another, to consider where there might be an impact on people with disabilities and hopefully choose a different route (i.e. that the City not create new barriers for people with disabilities). The third point she raised was that the number of people in the City with disabilities and the aging population is increasing. She said to the extent that it can, the City should plan accessibility by design, as this goes to the economic benefit of the City. Finally, Ms. Urqhart pointed out the Province has announced proposed changes to the OWD Act; which could put additional or different pressures on the City and this would be a factor in the 2005 budget deliberations.
Sean McKenny, Ottawa District Labour Council (ODLC) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. McKenny commended Council for its work on the 2005 budget, suggesting that most in the community are appreciative of Council’s efforts. He noted however, that most want to maintain or increase services to protect and build on their quality of life. He indicated the unions are willing to assist, citing their power of lobbying both provincial and federal governments.
Margaret Nelson, and Helen Saravanamutto, Social Justice Committee, Ontario Association of Social Workers (Eastern Branch) (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Nelson and Ms. Saravanamutto presented Council with four recommendations: that spending be appropriated in line with the Ottawa 20/20 principles; that funding be reinstated and strengthened for community programs; that user fee increases be limited; and, that taxes be increased to cover both inflation and the cost of restoring and increasing needed funding for community programming.
Carolyn Brereton, Editor – New Edinburgh News and Member, Rockcliffe Library Committee (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Brereton reiterated points from her previous appearance before Committee last March on the importance of local libraries to their communities, the significant savings realized by the library post amalgamation, the under-funding in comparison with other large cities across Canada and the key role played by libraries in the education system. She pointed out that the library ranks third, after fire and police services, in the Ekos survey in terms of residents’ satisfaction. She closed by urging Committee to increase the funding to the library in accordance with the consultant’s report to provide more buildings, better buildings, more services and more staff.
Peter Honeywell, Council for the Arts in Ottawa (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Honeywell spoke about the arts grant program, noting it is the foundation on which artists and arts organizations deliver programs and services, also attracting partners, volunteers, participants and audience members. He requested that Council prioritize operational arts funding in accordance with the 20/20 Arts Plan.
Penny McCann, Director of SAW Video; independent filmmaker and video artist (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. McCann highlighted the importance of culture in Ottawa relative to shaping and maintaining the social fabric of the City, and cited SAW Video as an example of this. She detailed the extensive services provided by SAW Video and the importance of the $46,000 City grant received, noting that it leverages more than fifteen times its value, and would cost significantly more should the City take on its role.
Jessie Lecayo, Gallery 101 (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Lecayo indicated that over twenty-eight arts and cultural organizations had met on October 6 to discuss the 2005 budget process and share perspectives and ideas. She reiterated their support for municipal investment in culture demonstrated through the 2004 budget process, and referenced, in detail, the vision, mission and role of the City from the 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan. She emphasized the need to increase and restore arts funding, and implement the 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan.
Steve Dezort, Community Educators Group (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Dezort noted the Group is an umbrella organization of museums and heritage groups dedicated to develop, promote and facilitate heritage education. Mr. Dezort spoke of the development of a comprehensive education program for Ottawa’s sesquicentennial year in 2005 to focus on the histories of communities forming part of Ottawa today and their request for grant funding to permit the program to be offered free to all elementary school classes.
Diane Dupuis, Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Dupuis stressed the importance of reflecting the Official Plan priorities in the 2005 budget directions and recognizing the distinction between services the City is required to provide versus other services. Responding to several of the survey questions, she stated that to increase the modal share of cycling during commuting hours, the capital cycling budget must be reinstated to 2003 levels, at minimum. She felt that a minimum of three per cent of the transportation budget be allocated annually to cycling. Ms. Dupuis conveyed a number of other requests, such as: printing and distributing the cycling map/guide in 2005; annual funding be provided for the cycling education and promotion programs; that the Advisory Committee be restored to full status; and that work plan funding be restored for all advisory committees. Ms. Dupuis felt Council should recognize that a three to six per cent property tax increase was not unrealistic to fund important City services.
Susan Arab, Parent, Capital Daycare (Written presentation held on file with the City
Clerk). Ms. Arab prefaced her remarks
by expressing her belief that transit, libraries, recreation and housing are of
vital importance to a healthy city. She
focused her presentation on the high cost and demand of quality childcare, and
extolled in detail the benefits of having her child attend the Capital Day Care
Centre which relies on a City grant to operate. She noted the high cost of day care and limited spaces available,
and strongly supported a tax increase should it mean the protection and
enhancement of valuable services, including childcare, provided by the City.
Shawna Moffatt, Curator, Diefenbunker (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Moffatt provided a history of the Diefunbunker and statistics on visitors, underlining the importance of the economic benefits of museums and consequent contribution to local tourism. She noted that the provincial community museums operating grant program has not increased since 1982 and suggested that Council support a hotel and entertainment tax and assist in discussions with the Province to ensure a portion of that tax is dedicated to heritage and culture.
Justin Ciale, Board Member, Canadian Office of Human Rights thanked the City for making the facility on Bayview available to them, noting that the organization provides essential services for ex-offenders to reintegrate into society, an often difficult task to accomplish. He stated their motto as “no to crime, yes to work”, requesting that the City continue to support their endeavors.
John Dickie, Chair, Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Dickie advised that the Organization represents the owners and managers of 30,000 rental units and has, for the past eight years, been requesting a reduction of the tax ratio on multi-residential properties in order to resolve the inequitable share of property taxes being paid by tenants. He referenced the Council resolution of May 12 directing inclusion in the 2005 budget directions report of a two year phase in strategy to achieve a multi-residential tax class ratio of 1.8 per cent by 2006, indicating his assumption that this direction would be included in the final budget report.
Maryan Abdirahman, Coordinator, Somali Women’s Support/Information Line, Carlington Community and Health Services (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Abdirahman pointed out the devastating effects of the June funding cut, speaking to the many services provided by the organization to refugees and immigrants. She advocated both reinstatement of the community grant funding as recommended by the Health, Recreation and Social Services Committee, and no reduction of funding for social services that assist refugees and immigrants.
David Fleming, President, Heritage Ottawa, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Fleming spoke in support of Ottawa’s arts and heritage programs, urging Committee to table a balanced budget, referencing the responsibility to preserve and protect documentary and material history and built heritage, as outlined in the 20/20 Official Plan. He pointed out the importance of City funding a propos the ability to leverage other sources of funding, and recognized that Ottawa cannot continue to fund services at the same level given that taxes have only been increased in Ottawa once in the past eleven years.
Blair Johnson (Written presentation held on file with the City
Clerk). Mr. Johnson addressed the
inadequate property tax assessment system, expressing concern that Council and
the citizens of Ottawa are not getting a clear picture of budget pressures and
the inequities created by the current property tax system. He recommended that any increase in funding
be derived from user fees (using the municipal price index), fines and transfer
payments, and that staff be directed to aggressively investigate new user fees
for consideration during the 2005 budget deliberations.
Paul Durber, All-faith Group (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Durber advised that the Group is an informal network of people interested in social justice issues across the City, and includes clergy from various faiths. He expressed concern about the effects of cutting funding for community health, recreation and social services currently supported by the City. He suggested consideration be given to restoring funding, and advocated openness to new initiatives, citing the example of waiving development fees for social housing. He strongly supported investment in social programs as measures for building community.
Robert Brocklebank, President, Federation and Citizens’ Association of Ottawa-Carleton (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Brocklebank applauded the City initiative to engage the public in the determination of budget priorities, noting, however, that the explanatory information provided was incomplete and unclear and the survey questionnaire confusing. He emphasized both the importance of inclusion of the capital budget to move towards 20/20 objectives and the need for multi-year budgeting, expressing the Federation’s willingness to work with the City.
Suki Lee, Manager, Communications and Marketing, Ottawa Art Gallery, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Lee spoke of the support of residents and the business community during the 2004 budget consultations, for municipal investment in the cultural sector. She applauded the City for funding projects such as the Firestone Collection tour of galleries across Canada, which have massive and measurable spin-offs. She noted every dollar given by the City is equally matched by other funding bodies and further that each City dollar leverages four dollars from Provincial and Federal partners, thereby quadrupling service offered by the gallery. She requested that there be no cuts to the arts through the 2005 budget process, but rather an increase to the City’s per capita spending to $6.96 by 2005 as approved in the 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan and further that the plan be implemented immediately.
Jeannette Robert, President of The Anti-Poverty Project, and City of All Women Initiative, accompanied by Nubia Cermeno and Tara Upreti (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). The delegation urged Council to ensure the budget is directly connected to the Ottawa 20/20 principles, and expressed opposition to user fee increases recommending instead support for the City in its efforts to lobby the Federal government to remedy the funding formula for municipalities. Further, the delegation strongly recommended reinstatement of community grant funding to allow the City to respond to emerging needs and community initiatives to benefit low-income families and endorsed a budget that promotes equitable hiring of diverse women and men.
Jim Poushinsky, Ottawa Citizens Against Pollution by Sewage (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Poushinsky fervently advocated the spreading of sewage sludge in the Trail Road landfill rather than on agricultural lands as both a significant cost savings and energy savings by using the methane gas produced for heating and electrical generation as has been done in Switzerland.
Christine Culham, Ottawa Coalition of Community Houses (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Culham stated that the fourteen community houses are located in the heart of communities. They provide services and programming to those with low incomes to promote a higher quality of life, on a budget of only $40,000. She requested that increased funding for community houses become part of the City budget.
Cindy Bellemare, Michele Heights Community House (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Bellemare, a resident of her community for twenty-two years, underscored the importance of community houses to the community, citing the need for more staff due to the high level of community need. She detailed the many programs provided and noted that over one hundred volunteers work in her community house. She stressed that without these programs, children will take to the streets and turn to crime.
Barbara Carroll, Chair, Coalition of Community Houses (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Carroll urged Committee and Council to recognize and support the essential and distinct services afforded by community houses in improving quality of life, the significant work done in building strong communities by community involvement, the leverage of monies, good and services through partnerships and the involvement of residents as active volunteers.
Leonard Poole, Citizens for Safe Cycling, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Poole declared that sustainable investment in cycling infrastructure and education programs was an effective way to avoid future high transportation costs. He presented a motion asking that staff be directed to develop budget guidelines to provide for sustained operational funding for cycling at a level representing three per cent of the overall transportation budget.
Jeff Lieper, President, Hintonburg Community Association, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Lieper prefaced his remarks by indicating that the Association applauds the general principles and direction outlined in the Official Plan. He However, he questioned the integrity of the Plan if residents move from the downtown core to the suburbs due to violence and drugs. He therefore requested that staff be increased in by-law enforcement and property standards to handle the community’s special concerns, a nuisance abatement by-law be implemented, parks and streets be lighted as security measures and sufficient resources be put into the area of rooming house licensing.
Fran Going, former President, Heron Gate Tenants Association, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Going addressed the longstanding inequity in taxes paid by homeowners versus tenants, noting that tenants are taxed at more than twice the rate of homeowners. She asked that the City include in the 2005 budget a plan for further tax decreases for tenants.
Charles Matthews, Disabled and Proud, (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Matthews noted that many of the previous speakers had addressed the effect of last year’s budget on the disabled community. He indicated that first reading took place October 12, on Bill 118, a new disability act for Ontario, which will require total and complete accessibility by the year 2025 subject to compliance standards and timeframes. He requested serious consideration for funding to retrofit City buildings to meet today’s accessibility standards.
Chris Henderson, Past Chair, Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation and Co-Chair, The Ottawa Partnership noted that without a new fiscal framework between the different levels of government, it is difficult to promote economic growth with a balance quality of life. When the City grows economically, it faces a weaker fiscal framework, which precludes investment in economic growth. TOP and other organizations are making this perspective heard to the Provincial and Federal governments. With respect to the new deal, an innovation framework that can really work is required. Mr. Henderson said the business community will be advocating review of the new deal from both the fiscal and innovation frameworks and that will be part of their message. He stressed the importance of the City looking at the budget from the perspective of the economic development framework. The business community will draw attention to the key issue of technology commercialization, as well as tourism development and the need to build on our learning community. He emphasized the need for a more strategic perspective to economic development and requested that this be kept in mind during the upcoming budget deliberations, recognizing of course, the need for balance between the city and business perspectives. In response to Mayor Chiarelli’s queries, Mr. Henderson noted the excellent relationship between TOP and City economic staff, indicating that the City gets excellent value for dollars spent.
Shukri D’Jama, Ottawa Somali Women’s Organization (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. D’Jama detailed the numerous and diverse services provided by this non-profit organization, indicating that it relies heavily on City funding which was cut last year, and has barely been able to keep programs running through donations received.
Mariam Aden, Ottawa Somali Women’s Organization (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Aden stated that as a community organization, their main concerns are focused on employment of women and funding of appropriate training programs. She addressed the issues of training for culturally diverse women, the need to revisit the requirements for job positions and the need to maintain the programs offered by social services and employment.
Keith Carberry and Luigi Caperilli, Tenants and Landlords for Fair Taxation (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Mr. Caperilli described the role of the group as working to bring the rate of taxation of the multi-residential sector to the same rate as paid by the residential sector. He pointed out that that multi-residential properties pay municipal taxes at 2.152 times the rate of homeowners. Referencing Council’s budget direction of May 12 to achieve a multi-residential tax class ratio of 1.8 by 2006, he urged Council to follow this policy direction to ensure that all residents pay property taxes at the same rate.
Cindy Magloughlin, President, Ottawa Federation of Parents’ Day Care Centres (Written presentation held on file with the City Clerk). Ms. Magloughlin addressed the importance of licensed high quality child care and urged the City to provide the necessary funds in the 2005 budget or day care will lose $4.2 million over the next year and quarter. She stated that the Federation is working hard to achieve their long term goal to see child care funding off the municipal property tax base and completely funded through the income tax system.
The following
persons provided written submissions (held on file with the City Clerk), but
did not address the Committee:
Ron Tomlinson,
National Capital Heavy Construction Association;
David Bell, Chair,
Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee;
Lisa
Jamieson/Marion Wright, Canadian Mental Health Association;
Councillor C.
Doucet, summary of his budget consultation meeting;
Richard Hayter, Building and Construction Trades Council.
Having heard from all public delegations, the
meeting recessed at 9:05 p.m. and reconvened at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, 21
October 2004 in the Champlain Room.
Mayor Chiarelli indicated the Committee would first receive a presentation on the Long Range Financial Plan 2 report (Item 6) and then Committee could pose questions of staff on all budget-related matters, beginning first with the Police Service Budget.
Chief V. Bevan, Ottawa Police
Service (OPS) and Debra Frazer, Director General, OPS presented a brief
synopsis of their earlier presentation to Committee on Tuesday, 19 October
2004. Chief Bevan and Ms. Frazer then
responded to questions from the Committee and the following summarizes the main
points raised.
·
There
has been a Provincial announcement that they will cost-share (50/50) with the
municipality, funding for staffing.
There is no start date yet established for the program. The Premier announced that about 50% of the
available officers (i.e. approximately 450 across the Province) would be
dedicated to community-based policing;
·
The
budget implications for the City’s 2005 budget are not yet known (i.e. the
time-frame for implementation is not yet known). It may well be implemented for 2006;
·
OPS is
still pursuing funding from the Province with respect to “arrears” in
supporting front-line policing in Ottawa;
·
The
Chief expressed the hope that it would be possible to “back-date” this funding
because the Province has not provided funding to subsidize any of the cost for
officers hired in 2004;
·
The
OPS budget pressure currently before the Committee contains approximately
$12.7M in costs related to collective bargaining (i.e. people who are already
in place). There was nothing in the
Premier’s announcement that would indicate any of the funding would be directed
to reduce the impact of the $12.7M;
·
The
Provincial share on the former program (which they have not been paying)
amounts to approximately $2.1M annually;
·
If
Council chose not to implement the fourth year program (i.e. do it the
following year), the dollar amount would be $1.3M for one-quarter of the year
(this has already taken out of the 2005 budget). Because of budget pressures in past years, the hiring of 57
police officers and 10 civilian members has been deferred until the fourth
quarter of the year. The overall impact
in 2005 would come in at approximately $1.3M.
The officers that will not be hired in 2005 from municipal funding would
largely be school resource officers, neighbourhood police officers, foot
patrol, and officers to work youth, vice and prostitution offences;
·
Ottawa
has made some consistent improvements in terms of the police to population
ratio but because of growth in the City, the ratio is still high;
·
Under
the former Provincial program, the municipality had to commit 50% of the
funding for officers that they were applying for five years and then at the end
of the fifth year, they would have to fund 100% of the officers. For example, Peel applied for 124 officers
and had the funding up front to commit to hiring those additional police
officers. In 1999, when OPS made the
application, they forecasted they could afford to pick up the salary cost of 22
officers at the end of the five-year period.
When the Province began the conversion of that program, OPS applied for
49 more positions and were eventually granted 10 more for a total of 32.
·
The
Province currently funds at a rate of approximately $30,000 per position. OPS felt that 70 positions was the deficit
and therefore the figure of $2.1M was arrived at;
·
OPS
carries out citizen satisfaction surveys on three-year cycles. The last one was done in 2002 and at that
time OPS ranked very favourably. The
EKOS survey also covered the OPS;
·
According
to Statistics Canada, OPS reports 10,000 more calls than Peel (a comparable
sized police service). As part of the
efficiency program introduced by OPS a few years earlier, the Call Centre was
established and they handle calls of a lesser urgency. This reduces the demand on officers’ time;.
·
The
total OPS budget for 2005 is $158,427,000 and approximately 85% of this for
salary. Ms. Frazer is to provide
Councillors with information related to what percentage the administration
costs represent;
·
The RCMP
have a different mandate than the OPS.
Although they work together in various areas (e.g. the consolidation of
the two tactical units which will result in tax savings for Ottawa citizens and
result in efficiencies), there is only so much overlap that can be considered
and should not be taken into account when comparing to other jurisdictions;
·
Since
2001, the Board and Council have made approximately $35M in investments in the
OPS and of this, $32.6M (93%) is related to people costs. All of this has been to meet growth and
demands of community service with regards to policing;
·
Ms.
Frazer to provide Councillors with details on the number of officers hired in
2004, when they were hired, what the partial costs were and what the full costs
will be for 2005;
·
There
is currently a class of 28 at the Ontario Police College that will graduate in
December. Hiring by OPS will have to be
aligned with the availability of seats in various sessions at the Ontario
Police College;
·
The
Report of the Panel on Community Safety recommends making community investments
and to take advantage of the Crime Prevention grants that are available from
the Federal government. These are long
term proposals;
·
The
OPS Call Centre and the Communications Centre have experienced an increase in
calls as a result of Council discontinuing the City’s 24-hour Call Centre
operation (e.g. by-law calls). In 2004,
changes were made to staff in the Call Centre in order to get closer to the
demand line (i.e. raised service standard to 84%). Some of the positions are being “civilianised” so as to free up
the sworn officers to do more operational work. There has not been a separate study to identify what portion of
the additional work load can be attributed to the closing of the City’s Call
Centre at night;
·
The
rising costs of fuel and maintenance has contributed to the budget pressures
associated with fleet (i.e. 450 vehicles including the OPS aircraft). The operating costs (maintenance and fuel)
for the aircraft are $100,000 annually and there are three staff dedicated to
the project (a sergeant, a constable and a civilian pilot) for a total cost of
approximately $250,000 per year;
·
The
aircraft has lately been involved in the eradication of some outdoor marijuana
grows. Also the aircraft has been involved
in a number of surveillance operations dealing with such things as bank
robberies;
·
OPS is
recommending that their base budget be adjusted to include $1.5M. The issue of where this revenue should come
from will be a decision of Council.
There are various revenues coming into the Corporation through PON
(Provincial Offence Notices), building permits, property taxation, etc. They are not asking for a direct link
between PON’s and funding of their base budget. Staff would not recommend dedicating the PON revenue to the OPS
base budget. (Councillor Stavinga
introduced a motion in this regard);
The Committee then posed questions
on the Long Range Financial Plan 2 and the 2005 Budget Directions. Mr. Kirkpatrick; Mr. Russell; Rosemarie
Leclair, Deputy City Manager, Public Works and Services; Russell Mawby,
Director, Housing, Community and Protective Services; and Barbara Clubb, Chief
Librarian, responded to questions from the Committee. The salient points raised, are summarized below:
·
The
target is to pay for life-cycle renewal of City assets through Pay-as-you-go
(PAYG). The staff recommendation is to
get to 100% by 2011;
·
There
is capacity within the Provincial calculations (i.e. their maximum limit) to
use debt financing for major capital assets (i.e. to spread the cost over the
lifespan of that asset and also all of the users) but there will of course be
tax implications for issuing debt that is tax-supported;
·
The
City’s financial plan only deals with funding for new housing and opportunities
to add to the affordable housing stock (i.e. not existing stock). All housing providers share responsibility
to maintain the housing stock. The
housing branch is undertaking a comprehensive capital needs review throughout
the whole housing portfolio, which will include Ottawa Housing and it is
expected this will be completed by spring 2005. There is a responsibility of both the federal and provincial
governments (in addition to the municipality) to address the existing housing
stock;
·
Staff
have recommended an annual indexing of the PAYG contributions to ensure they at
least keep pace with the construction prices (i.e. $8.63 on the average tax
bill);
·
Pursuant
to LRFP 1, the City is supposed to maintain a $50M balance in tax supported
capital reserves, however, because a deficit from 2003 had to be covered, the
reserve balance stands at $37M. This
has been taken into account in the budget and the reserve will be brought back
to the $50M balance. This is in
addition to the $200M payment from Hydro Ottawa legacy fund;
·
Whether
there will be another deficit in 2004, will be answered clearly in the next
quarterly report from Finance. In the
earlier quarterly report problems were being forecasted in a number of areas
(many driven by gasoline prices);
·
When
asked if there should be some type of tax stabilization fund in place to handle
contingencies, staff indicated that if financial resources were not an issue,
maintaining some amount of tax stabilization to deal with issues that are less
controllable than others, would be desireable.
Currently these things are controlled within the departmental budgets on
the expenditure side;
·
To
arrive at the Hydro dividend of $12M, staff used numbers from the Hydro
business plan. They took what they felt
would be Hydro’s base annual provision, and then suggested anything beyond that
be used to fund capital (much easier to adjust to changes in capital than in
operating);
·
From
2007 onwards, staff anticipate Hydro dividends will be fluctuating between $18M
and $19M annually. There is nothing on
the capital side for 2005 and in 2006, staff estimate $2M;
·
Direction
2, speaks to enhancements to transit (among other things) and this refers to
the normal amounts put aside every year to deal with growth in the community
and growth in ridership (i.e. 2.5% growth in system). It is not the intent to reinstate any of the transit reductions
from 2004;
·
The
transfer payments from the Province (i.e. for childcare, Ontario Works, etc.)
are not administration-free and there is a relevance to including them in the
administrative costs;
·
The
Consumer Price Index (CPI) is forecast at 2.5%. Staff are forecasting the City’s costs will increase in 2005 by
an average of 6% (Municipal Price Index (MPI).
Not every account will increase by 6% - many will be lower and some will
be higher. Of the $68M increase, $53M
relates to the MPI;
·
The
Development Charge rates and the growth projections approved by Council in
July, are being used for the budget;
·
The
background documents relative to the budget directions (e.g. resource books,
work books, etc.) contained clear information about the Ottawa 20/20 vision,
the principles behind it and how the existing programs map against the
principles of Ottawa 20/20. As well, in
the report, particularly with respect to the enhanced services, the
consultation received was mapped to the Ottawa 20/20 principles;
·
Growth
should pay for growth is a strong policy direction of Council;
·
Staff
are working on the ideas they were directed to focus on that came out of the
Opportunity Log and the decisions that Council made in March (some of which
were new revenue ideas). Committee and
Council will be receiving a status report on these in the new future. Staff do not see the potential for new
revenue streams that could be implemented in 2005, that would result in any
great quantum;
·
Staff
have done some initial research on the bottling and selling of City water
(Councillor Doucet indicated he would be crafting a budget direction in this
respect);
·
The
idea of using MPI came from other municipalities and the objective they had in
using this new terminology was to reinforce the difference in the goods and
services (e.g. unionised employee compensation, construction costs, energy
costs, insurance premiums, etc.) that a municipality has to procure to deliver
services against those that make up the much more widely understood CPI;
·
Public
concern with using MPI is mainly associated with the compensation costs and
they are not willing to accept a tax increase to the degree the budget directions
report is recommending (Councillor Bloess introduced a motion in this regard);
·
Staff
advised that 50% of the 2.9% tax increase in 2004 is attributed to Ottawa
Police Service; 0.8 percentage points of the 2.9% was for all other municipal
programs;
·
That OPS
tax rate is to be separated from the municipal tax rate on the 2005 tax bills;
·
The
EKOS survey asked “To what extent would you support an increase in your
property taxes to fund the increased cost of delivering the same level of
services?”. There was no indication in
the question of an amount of increase.
Over half of the residents were willing to ‘consider’ a tax increase (3%
expressed strong support; 19% expressed some support; 30% answered moderate
support (i.e. they were willing to listen) and 45% indicated varying levels of
“no support” to fund increased costs);
·
Staff
believe that the $4.5 million in efficiency savings represents a “stretch”
target. The City has only been in
existence for 3 years and the OTB obtained a large portion of its targeted $80M
in savings from administration costs.
Since then, administration costs have dropped further from 7% to
6%. Council accepted all of the
administrative reductions proposed by staff in 2004, except for the reductions
to the Protocol function. It is the
opinion of the City Manager that any further reductions to administration costs
would impact on service delivery outside of the organization. Out of the 2004 budget exercise, staff
recommended and Council directed that management focus on continuous improvement
(i.e. save money not by cutting services but by being better at delivering
them);
·
Referencing
the second paragraph of Councillor Bloess’ motion, “Be it further resolved that
when setting the draft budget, the more relevant Consumer Price Index be used
instead of the Municipal Price Index to reflect budget pressures;” the City
Manager opined the CPI is not relevant in terms of estimating the cost
pressures faced by the City and he recommended that this not be endorsed;
·
Staff
to provide (when they table the budget) a series of options in terms of
services/programs that will not be included, if the proposed tax increase is
not approved. This list can then be
used to form the basis of a deliberative dialogue with residents to determine
their priorities, choices and values.
Staff stressed the importance of Council providing as much direction as
they feel they can to help in this process (e.g. what range of tax increase,
direction on the six elements). This
will allow management and staff to come back with a budget that is much closer
aligned to what Council would like to see;
·
There
has never been a public opinion poll that showed support for a general tax
increase in any jurisdiction in Canada.
This was only one question on the EKOS and the value of the survey is in
its entirety (not just this one question);
·
In the
MPI, staff have included an increased cost for what they think Council needs to
adjust the pay-as-you-go contribution to the Capital program because of the
increasing costs of building capital.
Because this is the component that can swing the most (i.e. in some
years there are large increases in the cost of construction contracts and
tenders and in other years, due to market conditions or price of inputs, there
is a down-swing), perhaps Council could consider pulling the capital element
out of MPI. However, staff caution
that, although it is true that some years MPI might be less than CPI, in the
City’s cost structure there is a lot of compensation. Staff have included a range that Council will need to consider
setting a bargaining mandate within.
Stats Canada does not include an element for unionised wage settlements
in their calculation of CPI;
·
Although,
the City could eventually be in a position to build its capital in the years
when there is a downswing in prices, Council’s existing policy is to build
capital on a just-in-time basis. Some
modelling could be done, based on where the market is in its competitiveness
cycle, to determine if a project could be advanced to take advantage of good
market conditions;
·
Although
the MPI is 6%, staff is not saying that property taxes should be increased by
6%. Rather, staff are seeking direction
from Council on the six elements needed to build the budget and in balancing
these six elements, the following must be dealt with: increased costs, growth
pressures, downloaded costs from the Province and assessment increase. MPI is not a proxy or basis of
substantiating a proposed increase in taxes;
·
The
City Manager had concerns with the last portion of paragraph one of Councillor
Bloess’ motion, i.e. “examine all service areas and all departments for
possible adjustments or alternate means of providing that service”. If this means finding better ways of
providing the same service absolutely, staff will take this as a direction but
if it means staff are to come back with proposed service cuts, Committee and
Council must give staff as much direction as it can about what areas of the
City are the highest priorities and how far Council wants staff to go in terms
of cutting services. Unless the
Committee and Council provide staff with different criteria and priorities, the
proposed reductions will be the same ones that Council bought back (from the
Universal Program Review) in March with the 2.9% tax increase. For example, unless Committee and Council
directs the City Manager to come back with a proposal to eliminate fire
stations, he will not do so. It is
destructive to the organization and the public’s perception to develop program
cuts that will not receive Council’s support;
·
The Library
Act specifically prohibits certain user fees, however, the Library does
have “extended use fees” and this brings in more than $1M annually. As well, the Library Board recently
instituted a new user fee for best sellers;
·
With
respect to the first paragraph of Councillor Bloess’ motion, the City Manager
indicated his preference to table the range of options for reducing the
property tax requirement, when the draft budget is formally tabled on December
15;
Having concluded the questions of
staff, the following motions were then put forward for consideration by the
Committee. The first motion from
Councillor McRae dealt with a technical amendment requested by staff and the
Committee approved this.
Moved by Councillor M. McRae
That in
Recommendation 2, the phrase “That the Committee receive for consideration” be
replaced with the phrase “That the Committee recommend for approval to
Council…”
CARRIED
Moved by Councillor R. Bloess
Be it resolved that staff be
directed to prepare a draft budget for a range of options to reduce the
property tax requirement taking into account the following: increasing proposed savings from
efficiencies, reducing proposed services enhancements, exploring additional
proposed revenue streams for increases to the operating budget from capital,
examine all service areas and all departments for possible adjustments or
alternate means of providing that service and proposing various combinations of
increases to user fees;
Be it further resolved that when
setting the draft budget, the more relevant Consumer Price Index be used
instead of the Municipal Price Index to reflect budget pressures; and
Be it further resolved that staff be
directed to continue to include the results of all public consultations
including the staff round table, the public opinion survey, the community led
consultations, submissions made to Council Committees and all public open
houses; and
Be it further resolved that staff be
directed to bring in a draft budget that would reflect no more than a 2 percent
tax increase, exclusive of the police budget.
Councillor McRae felt it was
irrelevant which Price Index is used, as the pressures faced by the City will
be the same regardless. In this regard,
she asked if Councillor Bloess would accept as a friendly amendment the
deletion of the second paragraph of his motion dealing with replacing the use
of the MPI with the CPI. She also asked
that his motion be separated.
Councillor Bloess agreed to accept the deletion of paragraph 2 as a
friendly amendment.
Moved by Councillor J. Stavinga
That the Police Services Board be
given a budget direction for 2005 that accepts the Board’s submission of budget
pressures and proposal to defer the 2005 Strategic Staffing Initiative program
($1.3M) and find $1.2M in cost savings resulting in an increase in the Police
Services Board tax rate of 9% and an increase to the total urban tax rate of
1.4%.
Moved by Councillor M. Bellemare
That staff prepare a report for
consideration during budget discussions, to reverse up to 10% of 2004 transit
cutbacks.
Moved by Councillor J. Stavinga
(amending Councillor Bloess’ motion, amendments in italics)
BE IT RESOLVED THAT; Councillor Bloess’ motion be amended to read: staff be directed to prepare a draft budget for a range of options to reduce the property tax requirements taking into account the following; increasing proposed savings from efficiencies, reducing proposed service enhancements, exploring additional proposed revenue streams for increases to operating budget from capital, examine opportunities for possible adjustments or alternate means of providing services including increases to user fees, using as the premise recommendation 2e (iii) and continue to explore other possible avenues;
Be it further resolved that; staff be directed to continue to include the results of all public consultations including the staff round table, the public opinion survey, the community led consultations, submissions made to council committees and all public open houses, and;
Be it further resolved that; staff be directed to bring in a draft budget that would reflect no more than a three percent tax increase, exclusive of the police budget;
and be it further resolved that; the
said range of options be developed for those services and programs that could
be considered for inclusion above the given direction of three percent.
Councillor Bellemare’s motion was
approved by the Committee
Moved by Councillor M. Bellemare
That staff prepare a report for
consideration during budget discussions, to reverse up to 10% of 2004 transit
cutbacks)”.
CARRIED with Councillor P. Hume
dissenting.
Mayor Chiarelli ruled that
Councillor Bloess’ motion was an amendment to the staff recommendations and
that Councillor Stavinga’s motion was an amendment to Councillor Bloess’
motion. The Committee would deal first
with councillor Stavinga’s motion.
In response to queries from
Councillor Jellett, with respect to the staff recommendation 2 e) regarding
user fees, Mayor Chiarelli clarified that regardless of what option is chosen
(Councillor Stavinga’s motion recommends 2.e) iii), staff will report back with
detailed information on each of the user fees and what the impact will and
Committee and Council will have the option to consider these on a line-by-line
basis.
Councillor Jellett noted there are
different pockets in the city with different abilities to pay. He noted that some impacts may be felt more
strongly in the rural area than in the urban area. He asked if this had been considered. Mr. Kirkpatrick noted Council has a policy in terms of the
accessibility fund. Mr. Kanellakos
advised that as a result of a direction from Councillor Cullen (at HRSSC) staff
will be bringing back a comprehensive report on the accessibility fund.
The Committee then considered the
remainder of the motions, beginning with Councillor Stavinga’s motion to amend
to Councillor Bloess’ motion. The
motion was divided for voting purposes.
Moved by Councillor J. Stavinga
BE IT
RESOLVED THAT; Councillor Bloess’ motion be amended to read: staff be directed
to prepare a draft budget for a range of options to reduce the property tax
requirements taking into account the following; increasing proposed savings
from efficiencies, reducing proposed service enhancements, exploring additional
proposed revenue streams for increases to operating budget from capital, examine
opportunities for possible adjustments or alternate means of providing services
including increases to user fees, using as the premise recommendation 2e (iii)
and continue to explore other possible avenues;
CARRIED with Councillor R. Jellett dissenting.
Be it further resolved that; staff be
directed to continue to include the results of all public consultations
including the staff round table, the public opinion survey, the community led
consultations, submissions made to council committees and all public open
houses, and;
CARRIED
Be it further resolved that; staff be
directed to bring in a draft budget that would reflect no more than a three
percent tax increase, exclusive of the police budget;
CARRIED
YEAS (6): Councillors H. Kreling, R. Bloess, J. Stavinga, R. Chiarelli, P. Hume and Mayor B. Chiarelli
NAYS (3): Councillors M. McRae, M. Bellemare and R. Jellett
and be it further resolved that; the said
range of options be developed for those services and programs that could be
considered for inclusion above the given direction of three percent.
CARRIED with Councillors M.
Bellemare, R. Jellett and M. McRae dissenting.
Councillor Bloess’ motion as amended
by the foregoing was then approved.
Moved by Councillor R. Bloess
BE IT
RESOLVED THAT staff be directed to prepare a draft budget for a range of
options to reduce the property tax requirements taking into account the
following; increasing proposed savings from efficiencies, reducing proposed
service enhancements, exploring additional proposed revenue streams for
increases to operating budget from capital, examine opportunities for possible
adjustments or alternate means of providing services including increases to
user fees, using as the premise recommendation 2e (iii) and continue to explore
other possible avenues;
Be it further resolved that staff be
directed to continue to include the results of all public consultations
including the staff round table, the public opinion survey, the community led
consultations, submissions made to council committees and all public open
houses, and;
Be it further resolved that staff be
directed to bring in a draft budget that would reflect no more than a three percent
tax increase, exclusive of the police budget;
and be it further resolved that; the
said range of options be developed for those services and programs that could
be considered for inclusion above the given direction of three percent.
CARRIED
as amended
With respect to her motion regarding
the Police Service budget, Councillor Stavinga clarified at Councillor
Kreling’s request, that her motion reflected the budget as presented by Ottawa
Police Service save and except for the $1.5M being included as a base budget
adjustment (from the PON’s or other revenue).
She said she did not want to signal to the OPS that the $1.5M could be
returned as an addition to the municipal levy.
Mr. Kirkpatrick noted the original
budget pressure submitted by the Police Services Board of $12.9M included the
base budget problem that exists because the funding for 2004 was one-time. Their presentation was that in addition to
the $12.9M there is an additional $4M pressure from the arbitration award. They have come forward with reductions in
the budget pressures from the deferral of the strategic staffing initiatives
and $1.2M in efficiency savings. The
OPSB was requesting that Council consider making the $1.5M budget adjustment in
2005 base, which would shift the budget pressure from the Police budget over
into the municipal program budget. He
explained that Councillor Stavinga’s motion states that the $1.5M is rightly a
Police budget pressure that they must deal with. Mr. Kirkpatrick also indicated it was his opinion that Committee
and Council did have the authority to give the Police Services Board a budget
direction.
Moved by Councillor J. Stavinga
That the Police Services Board be
given a budget direction for 2005 that accepts the Board’s submission of budget
pressures and proposal to defer the 2005 Strategic Staffing Initiative program
($1.3M) and find $1.2M in cost savings resulting in an increase in the Police
Services Board tax rate of 9% and an increase to the total urban tax rate of
1.4%.
CARRIED with Councillors P. Hume, R.
Jellett and M. McRae dissenting.
The staff recommendations, as
amended were then considered and divided for voting purposes.
RECEIVED
CARRIED with Councillors R. Jellett and M. McRae dissenting
CARRIED with Councillors P. Hume, R. Jellett and M. McRae dissenting.
CARRIED with Councillor R. Jellett dissenting
CARRIED
iii.
Increase all user fees by the % cost increase in their
respective service areas except for transit services, which would increase by
CPI, and parking rates, which would not increase.
CARRIED with Councillors M. Bellemare and R. Jellett dissenting.
CARRIED with Councillor M. McRae dissenting.
CARRIED with Councillors M. Bellemare, R. Jellett and M. McRae dissenting.
CARRIED
CARRIED
CARRIED
6. That staff be
directed to prepare a draft budget for a range of options to reduce the
property tax requirements taking into account the following; increasing
proposed savings from efficiencies, reducing proposed service enhancements,
exploring additional proposed revenue streams for increases to operating budget
from capital, examine opportunities for possible adjustments or alternate means
of providing services including increases to user fees, using as the premise
recommendation 2e (iii) and continue to explore other possible avenues;
7. That staff be
directed to continue to include the results of all public consultations
including the staff round table, the public opinion survey, the community led
consultations, submissions made to council committees and all public open
houses;
8. That staff be
directed to bring in a draft budget that would reflect no more than a three
percent tax increase, exclusive of the police budget; and
That the said
range of options be developed for those services and programs that could be
considered for inclusion above the given direction of three percent.
9. That staff prepare a
report for consideration during budget discussions, to add funding to reverse
up to 10% of the 2004 Transit cutbacks.
10. That the Police Services
Board be given a budget direction for 2005 that accepts the Board’s submission
of budget pressures and proposal to defer the 2005 Strategic Staffing
Initiative program ($1.3 million) and find $1.2 million in cost savings,
resulting in an increase in the Police Services Board tax rate of 9% and an
increase to the total urban tax rate of 1.4%
CARRIED
as amended
3. LONG RANGE FINANCIAL PLAN 2
plan financier à long terme 2
ACS2004-CCS-CSE-0022
Greg Geddes, Chief Corporate
Services Officer advised that this item was time sensitive and should be dealt
with at this meeting.
Linda Lalonde, Chair, Poverty Issues
Advisory Committee
referencing the issue of the endowment fund (Recommendation 6), said PIAC would
like to see the $200M from Hydro applied to capital programs. With respect to the housing issue, she
questioned when the funding strategy would be coming forward, as the 10,000
people on the waiting list would like to know.
After hearing from all public
delegations on Tuesday, 19 October 2004, the Committee approved the following
motion, given the late hour.
Moved by M. McRae
That this item be
deferred for consideration to Thursday, 21 October 2004 when the Corporate
Services and Economic Development Committee reconvenes.
CARRIED
When the meeting reconvened on
Thursday, 21 October 2004, Lloyd Russell, Director, Financial Services and City
Treasurer and Greg Geddes, Chief Corporate Services Officer appeared before the
Committee. Mr. Russell provided a brief
overview of the recommendations before the Committee.
Following questions and discussion
on the Long Range Financial Plan 2, (Note: See item 1 for minute of the
questions/discussion) the Committee approved the report recommendations.
That the Corporate Services and
Economic Development Committee recommend that Council approve that :
1. The definition of a
capital program as described in the Instructions for Completing the
Financial Information Return be amended by adding a disclaimer related to
development charges funded projects:
“A capital expenditure is any significant expenditure incurred to
acquire or improve land, buildings, engineering structures, machinery and
equipment. It normally confers a
benefit lasting beyond one year and results in the acquisition or extension of
the life of a fixed asset. It includes
vehicles, office furniture and equipment.
An expenditure on repair or maintenance designed to maintain an asset in
its original state is not a capital expenditure. A capital expenditure may include the costs of studies, etc., undertaken
in connection with acquiring land or constructing buildings. It may also include interest on temporary
borrowing for capital purposes and transfers for capital purposes to
unconsolidated local entities, hospitals, universities and similar organizations.”
Notwithstanding
the preceding definition, expenditures that qualify for development charge
funding will remain as capital projects, even if not in compliance with the
capital expenditure definition, above.
2. The list of projects that are to be transferred from the capital
budget to the operating budget (attached as Document 1) be approved and that a
similar transfer of pay-as-you-go funding offset them.
3. A portion of the Hydro Ottawa dividends be set aside for the
operating budget consistent with the Budget Directions Report with the
remaining future dividends used to fund the capital program.
4. The annual Pay-as-you-go contributions be indexed in accordance
with the City’s Infrastructure Price Index as published by Statistics Canada.
5. That the funding directions and strategies identified in the staff
presentation be included in a staff report to Corporate Services Committee and
be used as the basis for developing the 2005 Capital Budget, and, that these
include action to eliminate the addition of higher tax-rate supported debt by
the end of 2006.
6. That the City establish an Endowment Fund with the proceeds of the
Hydro Ottawa refinancing and that the City request special legislation that
would allow the fund to be invested under the Trustees Act; and
That City Council request our
representatives of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the
Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) present the request for special
legislation and seek AMO and LUMCO’s support for this request; and,
Further that the City Clerk prepare
a letter to Ottawa’s local MPP’s and all Ontario Municipalities seeking support
for City Council’s request.
7. That a future funding strategy be brought forward for future
affordable housing initiatives.
CARRIED