Council Cuts Public Meetings on 2008 Budget

As part of its second annual Citizen Budget initiative, Think City will be working to increase citizen input and awareness of the city's 2008 budget through articles in the Think City Minute and other community engagement activities.

  With calls by Vancouver police chief Jim Chu (pictured at left) for 129 more officers, rumours of $800,000 in cuts to the Parks Board, and a renewed demand by commercial taxpayers to shift even more taxes to residential taxpayers, the good news is the 2008 budget process will be a high stakes clash of interests as civic politicians struggle to balance the city's books. The bad news is the vast majority of residents will be left out of the debate on the very values that will shape the $840-million document.

During the 2007 budget consultation process, a number of citizens, business owners and community groups raised concerns about the poor participation in the annual budgetting process. Only 242 people – less than 0.04 per cent of Vancouver's population – completed the annual City Choices budget survey published in local newspapers or made available in public buildings.

In April, representatives of Think City and the Trade Union Research Bureau met with senior city staff to discuss changes that would better ensure the annual budget consultation upholds three fundamental elements of democracy – information, consultation and participation. The two groups submitted a brief that made a series of suggestions to improve the availability of budget information, enhance the credibility and response rate of the City Choices questionnaire, and make the budgeting process more open and transparent.

However, the request by Think City and its allies for a more robust citizen engagement process was ignored by city hall – in fact, city council took a step backward. On Oct. 19, Mayor Sullivan's NPA majority voted to cut public meetings by 25 per cent and refused to consider any new measures to boost participation in the 2008 budget debate.

With 2008 budget consultations slated to take place from mid-Feb. to mid-March, Think City will once again work to make sure citizens voices are heard. If you would like to assist with our Citizen Budget initiative, please email info@thinkcity.ca.