Halifax's budget process gets poor grade from national group

A national organization has taken a look at Halifax's budget process and decided there's room for improvement.

The C.D. Howe Institute, a not-for-profit that focuses on economic policies, assessed the 2019 budgets of 31 municipalities across the country for accessibility and transparency. Halifax got a mark of D+.

"They could have made it easier to find the key numbers," said Bill Robson, president of the institute. "And the operating and capital totals are on separate pages, so right away the non-expert is going to be a bit buffaloed by that."

Halifax also lost points for approving its $956-million budget in mid-April, two weeks after the new fiscal year began.

"That means the city is spending before the councillors have authorized it, which really ought not to happen," said Robson.

Vancouver is the only municipality that received an A for its 2019 budget process. According to Robson, key financial figures were easy to find on page 2 of the budget document and the budget was approved before April 1.

'It is transparent'

The chair of Halifax's audit and finance committee disagrees with the institute's assessment.

"It is transparent," said Coun. Russell Walker. "It's simple and clear, the projects are listed and what we are spending the money on."

Walker also pointed out that residents can make presentations about the budget at the beginning of any of the budget meetings.

"We're open," said Walker. "We've had nine budget pop-up meetings and a Shape Your City questionnaire."

Meanwhile, discussions about the 2020-2021 budget will continue on Tuesday.

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