By Pepper Parr
March 18th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Part 3 of a 3 part series on funding BurlingtonGreen.
Council meeting as a Standing Committee got to the point where they were deciding if they would grant BurlingtonGreen $50,000 this year, think about giving them $70,000 every year and make it a budget item and maybe give the organization some kind of a break on the $12,000 they pay in rent for the Pump House?
They left it at that – while they waited for a legal opinion and some thoughts from Allan Magi, Direct the Executive Director of Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services
BurlingtonGreen rented the Pump House and turned it into an EcoHub – there didn’t appear to be a plan on how the $12,000 rent a year would be paid.
A question that pops up for us is: In taking out a lease for the Pump House did they not figure out how it was going to be paid for long term?
In previous pieces on this story (links to Parts 1 and 2 are set out at the bottom) we dug into the policies that govern this kind of thing. First the policies are out of date and have not been upgraded.
The policy that is being used is very clear – No funding to registered charities. BurlingtonGreen is a registered charity.
We set out for the public how much they have received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Where has BurlingtonGreen found the funds it needed to be able to do the work they have done for more than a decade?
The data we have comes from Canada Revenue – they record and monitor this kind of thing.
There was no data in the Staff report, which we saw as a very one sided document; more of an advocacy piece that a balanced Staff report.
Strategy/process/risk
City staff see the benefits of investing in the services that BurlingtonGreen provides to help achieve the City’s lofty environmental goals and targets. The City’s small sustainability team is effective but has limited resources to fully engage the community.
Given the history and close relationship between the City and BurlingtonGreen, staff support a fee for services arrangement with BG which help to achieve the City’s key strategic environmental priorities.
This arrangement would have limited risk given the good working relationship staff have had with the organization over the years. A memorandum of understanding would be drafted and signed by each organization to oversee the services to be provided, performance measures to track progress and reporting requirements.
BurlingtonGreen is the environmental watchdog for the city. Set out below are just some of the things they do.
There was no thinking out of the box when Burlington Green realized the needed city tax based support. The idea of positioning themselves as an organization that was providing services the city needed took form and was presented. It sounded like a good idea; the city manager said there was history that would let the city flout the out of date policy that was in place. City council got sloppy and let their feelings for the organization get in the way of prudent fiscal responsibility.
The public will learn on Tuesday if the opinion they are asking the City Solicitor will let this fly. The Director of Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services is expected to provide some new angles that can be worked.
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