By Pepper Parr
September 17th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Has anyone seen the draft of the 2025 budget that the Mayor said last week could be available on Friday ?
Nothing has been released yet.
There has been a report that the document is around 20 pages long and is more of a summary than a full blown budget document.
Whatever is going to be released – each day it is late means the public is robbed of a day to review and discuss the contents with their neighbours. When tax increases approach the double digit level the public has every right to have as much detail and as much time as possible
Many have complained that the 700 + page budget was more than most people could handle – including at least one Council member who was quite vocal about the document being too long.
That full blow budget had at the data, all the details.
If public pressure calls for a shorter document what you will get is a document that the city chooses to release – will it include the hard to accept expenditures.
Are tax payers expected to trust their Council members? Not with this lot.
Five of the seven members of Council took part virtually. City manager, top left was virtual and a city staff member, bottom right was in the Council chamber.
That we had the first “Mayor’s Budget Town Hall” last Wednesday, the budget survey is up and being heavily promoted and the Food for Feedback event happened last Saturday, all before we get any budget summary or draft budget, is ridiculous and any input received on surveys or booklets from those events is worthless without giving the public any numbers or details on how our money has and will be spent.
A new CFO is being appointed tonight at Council. While I a direction from the Mayor and Council takes precedence, it may be delayed for this reason.
It’s the Mayor’s Budge not the CFO’s. Council and the public have no input until the the Mayor presents Her budget.
That should be Budget. I guess I should have coffee before posting.
You are surely not surprised Jim. Everything is late, Q2 update to bylaws, draft procedure bylaw to be considered at CoW, for recommendation to Council. Public Engagement comments for by-law (which were never considered before the vote was taken). 40 Corporate Policy Review Dates, etc. Report on Grahem Lane Application, 8 storey medical building on Caroline. As we said at Council it is a right mess and unless they bring in an excellent experienced problem solver to sort out what senior staff created and then left voluntarily or otherwise it will not change.
We taxpayers were told how it is by the Mayor yesterday. It is Council’s Procedure Bylaw and we need to be very grateful Council is not considering giving us back evening meetings as families can spend their time going to the ball game etc. Yes the era of Mayor My Way and building the airplane in the sky as you have repeatedly referenced is here to stay unless like the Titanic mindset she meets up with the equivalent to the iceberg that sunk the unsinkable.
The full document, even if it is lengthy , is important for the public to see so that we can understand the real details of how are tax dollars are actually being spent.
A summary document could provide for interpretation.