Confusion around $2.5M delays Charlottetown capital budget approval

Charlottetown city council postponed approving this year's capital budget Monday night after what appeared to be confusion surrounding millions of dollars. 

The vote will now go ahead Wednesday. 

"The capital budget was off by about two-and-a-half million dollars in the figures," said Coun. Terry Bernard.

"Obviously we're not prepared to pass a budget until we find where that two-and-a-half million is."

Council has held several meetings already regarding the capital budget, and councillors were concerned that the version presented Monday evening required about $2.5 million more in borrowing than what they were expecting.

We couldn't seem to be able to get an answer on where that money was.- Coun. Terry Bernard

On Tuesday, Mayor Philip Brown told CBC News that the bottom-line numbers were correct.

He said the confusion came after technical difficulties prevented a visual presentation from taking place.

"It was a miscommunication, we didn't have the technology to put it up on the big screen, now we have everything on paper," said Brown. 

"It will be explained very clearly tomorrow by our senior staff from finance, this is what we are looking at borrowing." 

'Let's just pass it'

Bernard was the first councillor to speak up about the number. He said after weeks of going through documents and making agreements on where to put the city's money, he was under the impression the figure was decided upon.

"We couldn't seem to be able to get an answer on where that money was," he said. "A lot of times, you know, when you're talking about budgets, especially capital, there's a lot of people's projects that they would like to see done and there's only so much money to go around."

As efforts were made to clarify the numbers, Brown proposed the idea of simply passing the budget on the table.

"Let's just pass it as is and then we'll work out the details," he told council Monday night. "Anything we're spending in this budget has to come back here to get voted on anyways."

According to Brown, if the problem was not easy to identify it would have been simple to rescind the resolution. That being said, Brown maintained he was confident the numbers were there, just not communicated properly. 

"I think just the warp speed that we've been working on some of the capital budgets over the last couple, several weeks has worn its effect on council and our administration." 

'An awful lot of money'

Eventually, council voted 9-1 in favour of deferring the approval of the capital budget until later in the week. 

"When you pass a budget, you're passing the budget. You should know how much you're passing," said Bernard.

"Two-and-a-half million dollars — an awful lot of money to not be sure where that is." 

Brown said he understood the hesitation from the councillors. He said this is a particularly large capital budget because, like other jurisdictions, the city is ramping up infrastructure spending to help with the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My responsibility is to ensure as a presiding officer that the information is readily available," said Brown. "It didn't happen the way it should have happened last night to clarify all those questions."

Moving forward, Brown said he has met with the finance department and the problem has been rectified. Members will meet again on Wednesday to review and approve the capital budget. 

"That pause button gave an opportunity ... to tell people nothing's being hidden. There's no money being put away in a refrigerator or a freezer. It's all open and transparent." 

The details of the capital budget remain under embargo until it is approved by council.

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