[homeles_ot-l] Possible 2011 budget process

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi folks,
 
There is a tentative budget schedule being developed at the City - as you know, it could change when it goes to Council for approval so pencil it in, don't use pen yet. The new Council will be sworn in on December 1st and I've heard from several sources that they will spend December and the first meeting in January getting set up and reviewing the governance structure including the standing committees and other Council-appointed folks such as advisory committees and external groups. The nominating committee will be struck in December and the standing committees and other nominees will be appointed at the first meeting in January. (That means they all give each other nice Christmas gifts if they want appointments to certain committees or outside boards and agencies. Just kidding - I think!)
 
The first thing on all the standing committees' agendas will be strategic planning for the four-year term of Council. So if you have a shopping list to guide them to the right priorities, start polishing it up now! That will happen in mid- to late January. Those plans will be incorporated into a Council strategic plan.
 
I understand that one of the ad-hoc Committees they will be appointing will be the Budget Challenge Committee which will be composed, like last year, of the chairs and vice-chairs of all the standing committees and will go through the draft budget with an eye to removing things that "shouldn't be there". Each Committee's two reps are responsible for presenting the budgets of the departments that report to them and staff are there to answer technical questions.
 
I don't have the release date for the Draft Budget documents yet but they are looking at holding public consultations in March with the goal to have Council deliberations and adoption of the budget wound up in April. I would expect that this means the Draft will appear in late February or very early March. Remembering that the school break and Easter fall in March and April, they will have some juggling to do to fit consultations around those two events which essentially subtract at least 14 days over the period. I haven't seen any indication yet about whether or not they will use the Committee of the Whole process to hear public delegations before they discuss the budget.
 
Organizations that are funded by the City usually get their first quarter's $$ at the previous year's rate when the budget is delayed past the end of December since the City is on a January-December fiscal year. Then, once the budget is passed, if they are still funded, they get a cheque for any increase paid back to the beginning of the year. If their funding is cut, they normally only lose the money for the remainder of the year. If the budget is only being passed in April, I would expect that the second quarter cheques may only be for April and May. It takes a while for staff to make all the calculations and get the revised funding amounts out to people but that should be done by the end of May. They won't want to send the full second quarter out in case a group is cut during the budget decisions.
 
So pencil in some budget fun in February, March and April!
 
Linda.


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