1. 2011 BUDGET – CRITERIA TO DESCRIBE IMPACT ON SERVICE, POLICIES AND REQUESTS

BUDGET DE 2011 – CRITÈRES DE DESCRIPTION DES RÉPERCUSSIONS SUR LES SERVICES, LES POLITIQUES ET LES DEMANDES

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AS AMENDED

That Council refer the following motion to staff with a direction to incorporate the subject of this recommendation into the report to come forward in the fall of 2010 with respect to the 2011 Budget process and timetable.:

That the 2011 Budget include criteria that describe the impact on service to residents, the impact on City policies, and the impact on overall requests for taxes.

RECOMMANDATION MODIFIÉE DU COMITÉ

Que le Conseil soumette la résolution suivante au personnel avec la directive d’intégrer le sujet de la recommandation au rapport concernant le processus et l’échéancier du processus budgétaire 2011 qui doit être déposé à l’automne 2010 :

Que le budget de 2011 comprenne des critères décrivant les répercussions sur le service offert aux résidents, les politiques de la Ville et l’ensemble des demandes relatives aux taxes.

Documentation

1. City Council’s report dated 15 March 2010 (ACS2010-CCS-ABF-0003).

2. Extract of Draft Minute, 22 March 2010.

Report to / Rapport au:

Audit, Budget and Finance Committee

Comité de vérification, du budget et des finances

and Council / et au Conseil

15 March 2010 / le 15 mars 2010

Submitted by / Soumis par: City Council / Conseil municipal

Contact / Personne-ressource : Diane Blais,
Committee Coordinator / Coordonnatrice de comité,

City Clerk and Legal Services / Direction du greffier et des services juridiques

580-2424, Ext. / poste : 28091, Diane.Blais@ottawa.ca

City Wide / À l'échelle de la Ville

Ref N°: ACS2010-CCS-ABF-0003

SUBJECT: 2011 BUDGET – CRITERIA TO DESCRIBE IMPACT ON SERVICE, POLICIES AND REQUESTS

OBJET: BUDGET DE 2011 – CRITÈRES DE DESCRIPTION DES RÉPERCUSSIONS SUR LES SERVICES, LES POLITIQUES ET LES DEMANDES

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee consider the following motion, for recommendation to Council:

That the 2011 Budget include criteria that describe the impact on service to residents, the impact on City policies, and the impact on overall requests for taxes.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de vérification, du budget et des finances examine la motion suivante, aux fins de recommandation au Conseil :

Que le budget de 2011 comprenne des critères décrivant les répercussions sur le service offert aux résidents, les politiques de la Ville et l’ensemble des demandes relatives aux taxes.

BACKGROUND

City Council, at its meeting held on 25, 26 and 28 January 2010, considered the following motion from Councillor Doucet (Motion 82/35) and, through Motion 82/36, referred same to the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee.

MOTION NO. 82/35

Moved by Councillor C. Doucet

Seconded by Councillor P. Hume

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the 2011 Budget include criteria that describe the impact on service to residents, the impact on City policies, and the impact on overall requests for taxes.

MOTION NO. 82/36

Moved by Councillor A. Cullen

Seconded by Councillor R. Chiarelli

That Motion No. 82/35 be referred to the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee.

REFERRAL CARRIED

As such, the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee is required to consider this matter and report back to Council with its recommendation(s) on same.

CONSULTATION

This item will be advertised in the local dailies as part of the Public Meeting Advertisement on Friday preceding the Committee meeting.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no financial implications associated with the motion, as referred to the ABF Committee.

Currently, the budget documentation presented to Committee and Council contains a description of any proposed adjustments to services and programs, along with the impact on the public and other departments, where applicable. 

Should Committee approve the motion as presented, the budget documents can be modified to include a comment with each proposed service / program adjustment as to the impact on City policies and on property taxes.  

During budget deliberations, members of Council have the opportunity to propose adjustments to services and programs by way of motion. Staff currently provides supplementary impact information on these motions through memorandum and/or council reports. An attempt can be made to provide the additional impact information, as suggested in this motion, but it may be difficult, given the timeframes under which these motions are prepared, assessed and debated.

LEGAL / RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

There are no legal/risk management impediments to implementing the recommendation in this report.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

N/A

DISPOSITION

Staff to implement Council’s decision.

2011 BUDGET – CRITERIA TO DESCRIBE IMPACT ON SERVICE, POLICIES AND REQUESTS

BUDGET DE 2011 – CRITÈRES DE DESCRIPTION DES RÉPERCUSSIONS SUR LES SERVICES, LES POLITIQUES ET LES DEMANDES

(Referred from City Council meeting of 25, 26 and 28 January 2010 / Reporté de la réunion du Conseil municipal du 25, 26 et 28 janvier 2010)

ACS2010-CCS-ABF-0003 CITY-WIDE / À L’ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE

Committee dealt with items 1 and 2 concurrently. The following reflects the discussion on both items.

Councillor Harder indicated she had a motion dealing with items 1 and 2. Although she believed there was consensus with respect to item, she the items would need to be split and should therefore be held.

Councillor Cullen proposed an amendment to Councillor Harder’s motion to simply receive item 2. Councillor Harder accepted this as a friendly amendment.

Responding to a question from Councillor Holmes, Ms. Marian Simulik, City Treasurer, explained that the recommendation at item 1 just asked staff to put in some criteria; what the impact would be of either expanding or decreasing a service or of adding or deleting a capital project. She added, this would be the impact on service to residents, the impact on City policy and in terms of overall taxation. She noted that staff already provided the impact in terms of overall taxation but that to implement this recommendation, they would need to provide more narrative on impact. As for the recommendation under item 2, she submitted it was a little more difficult because it called asked that priority not be given to services and projects that attract operational costs that rise faster than the rate of inflation. She indicated this was somewhat difficult to forecast. She noted that, with the new capital works, staff knew what the operating impact would be and disclosed this to Council so Council could have the debated about whether or not to move forward. However, she re-iterated that this recommendation was more problematic in terms of how it could actually be achieved and in terms of what was intended. She noted staff had not talked to the Councillor about what he actually wanted from the motion.

At this juncture, Committee voted on the following motion.

Moved by Councillor J. Harder

WHEREAS items 1 and 2 of Audit, Budget and Finance Committee Agenda 8 relate to the 2011 Budget and the 2011 Budget process;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the recommendation contained at item 1 be referred to staff with a direction to incorporate the subject of this recommendation into the report to come forward in the fall of 2010 with respect to the 2011 Budget process and timetable;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the recommendation contained at item 2 be received.

CARRIED

That the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee consider the following motion, for recommendation to Council:

That the 2011 Budget include criteria that describe the impact on service to residents, the impact on City policies, and the impact on overall requests for taxes.

REFERRED