It could be a whole new ball game when it comes to budgets in Wellington North.
Finance chairman Andy Lennox wants to see major changes to the township’s budgeting process. On March 21, he presented a report to council.
“This report came out following sitting through the budget sessions with various departments,” he said.
He admitted the pace for the budget process was a little slower than expected. “We have been through preliminary budget presentations. Some of them had increased spending which seemed very high and appeared to me to be unjustified.” He said the next step is to send it back to be revised.
Some of what Lennox is looking for is detailed explanations of proposed increases and further analysis to support increased spending.
“My expectation and hope is that the 2011 budget will be ready for council to give their preliminary approval before the end of April, followed up by an open house event,” he said.
“There are numerous shortcomings in the current process. My feeling is that we cannot continue down this same path, because council cannot make good decisions without good information.”
Lennox said many times staff are in a better position to make certain decisions, “because if they understand the parameters we have to work in, they are on the front line dealing with issues on a day to day basis. The bottom line is that we need to find a new way forward.” He believes there needs to be timely planning and monitoring and, “I think we need a framework to measure progress.”
He explained, “This report is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis but just an overview from my notes on the budget process to date and therefore is probably incomplete. My immediate goal is to have some high level resolutions for discussion and adoption at council … so that we can begin setting the stage for 2012 and beyond.”
Lennox believes decision making needs to be done at the lowest possible level in the organization, where adequate knowledge exists to make appropriate trade-offs.
He said senior staff need to ensure all staff are informed about major issues facing the organization so they are aware of issues that may impact decisions. Lennox said, “Council must ensure that staff is accountable to delivering the broad goals of the organization as established by council.”
So far, his experience in the budget process revealed a number of shortcomings.
He said, “No clear goals and objectives are communicated and understood across the entire organization, as different departments have presented their budget proposals in a variety of ways with inconsistent results from department to department.”
He said the finance department has not had clear goals to work from and the corresponding authority to send unrealistic proposals back to the appropriate staff to revise – or provide necessary analysis.
“Many budgets are presented as “wish lists” with little rationale about the necessity and timing of expenditures, and little, if any analysis about options reviewed to come to the decision.”
He stated there appears to be no long term planning for major expenditures or unusual operating spending. Instead, the planning window seems to be one year at a time.
Lennox said there is “no prioritization of major expenditures communicated across the organization, so it is not clear that we operate as one organization, not a collection of departments.”
Other issues he has with the process is council is forced to be the arbiter of where expenditure will occur without the front line knowledge to make such decisions.
He believes budget requirements and taxation from year to year are unpredictable, making it difficult to attract business and new residents to the community. He wants council to establish clear short, medium, and long term guidelines for staff to measure their decision making against, and back up staff decisions that conform to the guidelines.
Lennox said that along with his report, he offered a number of resolutions – “to help set the stage. I see this as the first step in establishing some clear guidelines. I put this together so that all staff and council could know the rules and share common expectations. This is something new and staff faces a challenge to adapt to a new way of doing business.”
But he said council must also play a role.
“I believe our staff have the capability and will rise to the challenge ahead.”
Council subsequently adopted a number of new policies that could change the nature of setting the budget.
First, is a policy so budget planning will be conducted with long term views of a five- year and 20-year capital budgets – beginning in 2012.
In addition, staff are to present preliminary budgets to the treasurer and finance committee by Sept. 30 and final draft budgets must be submitted to council by Dec. 1.
Additional policies include directing staff to seek more efficient and effective ways to deliver current services – without sacrificing customer service.
