City to seek input on budget in meetings with public
Next month's consultation exercise will be first for amalgamated city

JENNIFER LEWINGTON: CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
 

When the city holds town-hall meetings next month on the 2004 budget -- an election promise of Mayor David Miller -- neighbourhood activist Andrea Dawber plans to be there.

"The more people understand and are aware of the issues, the easier it is to move forward," said Ms. Dawber, a founder of Friends of Dovercourt Park. "It will be useful for the city and citizens to come with a plan and look forward to the future -- and see what you need to pack in the suitcase to get there."

The consultation exercise is a first for the amalgamated city. Typically, interest groups and individuals make deputations at City Hall as members of council debate the budget line by line before making a final decision on program spending and property taxes in late April.

This time, in addition to the deputations, citizens will have a chance to speak before the official launch of the budget debate in late January. Mr. Miller delayed the budget kickoff originally planned for Jan. 6 to allow for the town-hall meetings.

They will be held on evenings and weekends between Jan. 17 and 25 at six locations, still to be confirmed, across the city."I hope we manage to engage people in a real discussion about the city's current financial challenges and people's priorities," Mr. Miller said last week.
At the meetings, citizens will be asked to participate in small groups to talk about the tradeoffs required to balance the 2004 budget, which will be about $7-billion.

With an estimated shortfall of up to $350-million, caused by rising salaries and bigger financial requests for transit and the police, the options are fairly stark. The city can raise taxes, cut programs, look to senior governments for funding and rein in the budget requests of city agencies.
Budget chief David Soknacki said the meetings offer an opportunity for citizens to talk about broad priorities, not about a pot-hole problem on their street.

"We want to hear from them about what they could accept in terms of overall services," he said last week. "Do they want core services protected? Do they want to look at alternative ways of delivering service? Would they accept a higher tax increase if it meant getting more services, or do they want to hold the line?"

So far, both Mr. Miller and Mr. Soknacki expect that any property-tax increase next year will be no more than 3 per cent, about the current rate of inflation.

Several new councillors praised the effort to engage citizens on the budget.
"I think the idea philosophically is a good one," said Mike Del Grande, councillor for Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt.

But he warned that the exercise will not be easy, based on his past experience as a Catholic school trustee.

Once the novelty of consultation wore off, public participation by parents and others dwindled, he said. "It is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you want public input. On the other, they say, 'We elected you, we need someone to blame.'"