Mayor needs a strong foundation

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/11/2014 (3989 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Mayor Brian Bowman is leafing through his 40-page booklet of promises today, he may be wondering what in the world he got himself into. How will it all be accomplished?

His promises ranged from the mundane to the near fantastic, including his pledge to complete, by 2030, the entire bus rapid transit system at a cost of, well, it’s not known for sure, but likely in the billions of dollars.

The best place for Mr. Bowman to begin is at the beginning. He must build a foundation of trust and co-operation at city hall among city councillors and the administration. Both groups took a beating under former mayor Sam Katz.

The election of seven new councillors is an opportunity for a fresh start, but the administration is still leaderless and demoralized since the dismissal of Phil Sheegl as chief administrative officer.

Mr. Bowman should organize a conference on governance for councillors and civil servants to establish greater clarity on their respective roles and responsibilities. The two groups have suffered from an us-versus-them mentality, rather than co-operating to solve problems.

The question of how members of executive policy committee are selected should also be re-examined. Mr. Bowman wants them elected by council at large, but it’s a bad idea that will weaken the mayor’s influence and his ability to fulfil his mandate.

Councillors will inevitably disagree on some issues, but a culture of respect and co-operation can go a long way to creating a city hall that works for the best interests of the public.

In the past, it’s often seemed that 15 political parties occupied seats in council’s chamber. In fact, they are all members of the civic government, and they need to remember that and act accordingly.

Mr. Bowman also needs a financial plan to guide council through the next four years. The city’s debt is nearly $1 billion, the result of the previous council’s decision to borrow money to pay for infrastructure. The city got a few new roads and bridges, but rising debt payments are crippling its ability to take on more debt, while simultaneously squeezing the operating budget.

Modest property-tax increases will only keep pace with inflation, while providing a small sum for residential road renewals. Like most cities, then, Winnipeg is trapped in a cycle of rising taxes that are inadequate to meet the infrastructure challenge.

Mayor Bowman promised to negotiate a new deal with the province, but if that doesn’t work, there is no Plan B, at least not in the short term. Canada’s cities clearly need a new fiscal arrangement to take the pressure off property taxes, but they are more likely to get it from the federal government, which has much deeper pockets.

Ottawa must realize the country’s hub cities are economic engines that are competing in a global economy.

Which brings us to rapid transit. The mayor said his vision could be funded through new taxes from so-called transit-oriented development. Even if he is right, which is doubtful, it would only cover the city’s share of his multibillion-dollar vision. The other levels of government, particularly the province, believe in rapid transit, but probably not on the timetable set by Mr. Bowman.

Such an investment would also leave little for other priorities. To retain any credibility on this file, the mayor will have to complete the southwest corridor and start on another before the end of his first term, when he will be expected to offer a more definitive statement on the future of rapid transit.

In the meantime, Mayor Bowman should focus on the immediate challenge of reinvigorating the civil service and ensuring all councillors are given important duties as equal members of the civic government.