Group demands earlier public input on city budget

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This article was published 07/12/2023 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Months after councillors began meeting to hammer out the next City of Winnipeg budget, a community group questions why the public has yet to be consulted.

While the city’s budget working group began meeting about the 2024 to 2027 multi-year fiscal plan in September, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition said it’s still waiting for “a seat at the table” and fears public input will fall short.

“We could be doing things more throughout the year instead of a hard and fast kind of push where we create a lot of conflict and get people really worked up (after the budget’s first draft is released),” said Mel Marginet, a member of the coalition.

Ideally, budget-specific consultations would have started in the summer, Marginet said.

“We’re just worried, at this point, that we’re just going to be seeing a draft (budget) and then reacting to a draft, which would be unfortunate,” she said.

The city should also try to move input sessions into the community to gather feedback, rather than just allowing folks to present feedback as delegates at city hall, once the proposed financial blueprint is released, said Marginet.

The city has not confirmed the date its preliminary budget will be released or when the public will be able to weigh in on it.

Marginet said she fears service cuts are on the horizon, especially after the city issued notice Wednesday that financial pressures will force “tough” budget decisions.

“That sounds pretty dire to me. It sounds like we have … a lot that we should be talking about. It feels like we’re just going to get hit with the (decisions after the fact),” she said.

However, council’s finance chairman noted tabling a draft budget and then inviting public feedback is the city’s typical process, which he said does allow for ample feedback.

“My expectation … is we’re still going to have a fairly extensive period of time between tabling (the budget), committee meetings, and it actually going before council for a (final) vote,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty.

He said councillors also raise concerns on behalf of their constituents, which helps to ensure their input is reflected in the preliminary budget.

“Elected officials have that responsibility to represent the interests of all Winnipeggers,” said Browaty.

He said the draft budget will “likely” be tabled in early February.

Browaty said starting public consultations much earlier would trigger feedback that isn’t as relevant.

“My concern about (early) consultation that’s happened in the past is that it’s been so far removed from the reality and the actual process of decisions being made. I think it really set up expectations unreasonably for the people participating in those processes because it really was almost separate from the decision making,” he said.

Consultations on the city’s first multi-year budget, which covered 2020-23, included an extended period for feedback on city department spending proposals at public meetings in November and December of 2019, with additional options for people to speak at city hall after the preliminary budget was released in February 2020.

However, some residents criticized the process for scaring Winnipeggers with an unrealistically bleak view of city finances, after early cost-saving options mused about closing pools, arenas and libraries. Those controversial options were ruled out prior to the final budget vote.

“In terms of that first round (of feedback on that budget), did it present some fairly ugly options out there? Perhaps,” said Browaty.

He said the city does have far less financial wiggle room than the public may expect.

While Marginet said that particular public consultation period was “sort of a threatening process,” she remains concerned the current input will be too rushed.

“As soon as you get a budget, then you’re just reacting to (it) and then it’s always a very tight timeline (for council to pass it),” she said.

The City of Winnipeg is legally required to approve its next balanced budget by March 31, 2024.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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