A group of five Calgary city councillors have banded together during the city’s budget discussions to provide transparency and reduced spending, according to a release issued Tuesday. According to the release, the group, comprised of Cllrs. Andre Chabot, Dan McLean, Sonya Sharp, Terry Wong and Jennifer Wyness intend to bring forward amendments to council that include a motion arising calling for the reconstitution of council’s Budget and Finance Committee, which was disbanded by the previous council under Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Our budget document and process has never been so muddled and confusing,” said Chabot. “It’s full of fluffy content and lacks vital details that citizens and council members should be able to access readily. We’re not here to rubber-stamp administration’s budget; we’re here to scrutinize it.” Sharp added: “We desperately need to re-introduce more rigour, transparency, and oversight into our city budgeting. Re-establishing council’s Finance and Budget committee, with a mandate to review every single business unit budget, in detail, over the four-year cycle will bring that to bear for Calgarians. It has been truly lacking over the past three years.” The group indicated it intends to bring forward a number of amendments to the proposed 2025 city budget intended to reduce the tax burden for Calgarians, including direct cuts to administrative ‘nice-to-haves,' annualized funding for city services in areas of provincial and federal responsibility, and a call for more detailed information before budget approval on several capital projects. A key amendment, proposed by Sharp and McLean, calls for consolidating the chief administrative officer and chief operating officer positions to eliminate redundant, high-cost roles and save taxpayer dollars. “Having both a chief administrative officer and a chief operating officer creates unnecessary duplication of costly positions, along with the support staff and budget accompanying them,” said Sharp. “We’re calling for a consolidation of these positions and a thorough accounting of discretionary expenses, especially for directors and higher, with the goal to cut these costs in half in the next budget cycle.” McLean added there is a need to shift funding for provincially mandated responsibilities out of the city’s base budget. “We are constantly blaming other orders of government for downloading onto us, yet most of the time, we do it to ourselves at budget time,” he said. “Affordable housing, mental health, low-income bus passes are all very worthy, but not municipal responsibilities.” “Take affordable housing. That’s a federal and provincial responsibility we’re there to support and coordinate. Moving these out of our base budget and managing them with annual support from favourable variances allows us to prioritize resources for core city services.” Together, Wyness and Mclean advocate shifting from expensive electric buses to more affordable natural gas vehicles. “We need to focus on practical investments,” said Wong. “These amendments are about ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent on services that directly impact people’s lives, not on projects that are out of touch with what Calgarians need.” Additionally, Chabot and Wong advocate the elimination of the one per cent tax shift from non-residential to residential properties to reduce the tax burden on homeowners. “Administration is asking for some big-ticket capital funding, and some of it is all ‘ask’ and no ‘plan,’” said Wyness. “A billion-dollar borrowing bylaw for water resources, without scoping out the details of how much is needed and when? Our water infrastructure needs upgrades, but I’d like our administration to come forward with more information for council than we’ve been given to date.” Wyness added she has concerns about the city’s purchase of electric buses. “Our focus should be on more full and reliable buses instead of fancy complicated buses that operate fewer hours in the day,” she said. “We need a focus on what is best for bus riders and not what is best for bureaucrats.” The proposed amendments, seeking more detailed information on significant capital projects and stricter controls on discretionary spending, have been debated throughout the week, with a final vote nearing the end. “In total, the councillors are planning to bring forward more than twenty amendments, referrals and motions throughout this week’s budget deliberations,” says the release.
