Deachman: ‘Consulting’ Ottawa residents on the city budget doesn’t really work, does it?

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I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I attended a public consultation on the city’s 2025 budget last week, one of several taking place throughout Ottawa at this time of year.

The event, if I can call it that, was at the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority in Manotick, and was hosted by councillors from five largely rural wards: David Brown (Rideau-Jock), George Darouze (Osgoode), Clarke Kelly (West Carleton-March), Catherine Kitts (Orléans South-Navan) and Matt Luloff (Orléans East-Cumberland). Together, they represent nearly 190,000 Ottawans, or about 17 per cent of the city’s population.

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So you might have expected more than the dozen or so residents who attended the session, which was mostly an information presentation, with the city’s chief financial officer, Cyril Rogers, and financial services manager Svetlana Valkova schooling attendees in the general workings of the city’s budget. They explained where the money comes from and where it goes, the difference between operational and capital costs, that sort of thing. It was like a civics class, if anyone reading this is old enough to know what that is.

And while I can’t speak for those in attendance, I don’t think that that’s why the Manotick resident sitting beside me was there.

Gordon (he wouldn’t give me his last name) had come to raise three issues: the prevalence of coyotes near St. Mark high school in Manotick, the terrible state of Scobie Road, and some problematic beavers who were messing up water levels nearby.

I asked him if he thought that bringing up these issues at a budget consultation would move the needle. “Probably not,” he shrugged, “but it’s not going to have an effect if I don’t try.”

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Ultimately, however, Gordon left the meeting before it was over,  without raising his concerns. I suspect he realized at some point that this was not the best forum for his complaints or suggestions.

And that’s the problem. Ottawa’s budget is a $5-billion ocean liner that city staff have been working on for months, and it’s to be tabled at council on Nov. 13, with final approval expected on Dec. 11. Councillors have already pitched their shopping lists of ward priorities to the mayor. It’s likely too late in the cycle to be raising the fate of Manotick coyotes.

So why hold public budget “consultations” at all? Aren’t they simply performative? Shouldn’t they just be scrapped?

Councillors have already pitched their shopping lists of ward priorities to the mayor. So why hold public budget ‘consultations’ at all?

There was at least some utility in the one I attended, if only for a handful of people. When one resident, for example, suggested that the contentious Vacant Unit Tax, which she described as a money-losing string of bureaucratic red tape, be axed, Rogers answered that although it cost the city a little over $2 million to administer, the VUT last year netted $10 million that went towards affordable housing.

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When another resident suggested that hiring more paramedics would help reduce response times, especially in rural areas, Luloff said that it was actually the inefficient offloading of patients at hospitals, not the number of paramedics, that was the real culprit. In other words, sharing information benefited at least the small slice of the population who took the time to attend.

“You can see there aren’t a lot of people here,” Kelly said, “but the exchanges that happen here are very useful. Someone raises something that makes someone else think of something that they might not have thought of otherwise.”

OK, but the resources that went into the meeting, simply considering the time and effort expended by councillors and city staff, seemed outsized in comparison to the smattering of response it received. Plus, these sorts of “consultative” gatherings are happening all over the city at this time of year. That’s a lot of city time and money for an exercise that feels like it is too little, too late.

Perhaps that’s the price of transparency. By law, the city is required to run a balanced budget. Good governance, on the other hand, should not be based on cost recovery.

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Certainly, more residents ought to be engaged in the budget process. But then, more residents ought to vote in municipal elections, too, yet most don’t. One suggestion would be to call these productions “information sessions” rather than “consultations,” so residents who attend aren’t disappointed. Sure, they can raise issues, but unless there’s some sudden, huge groundswell of support, they’re not going to change the budget’s direction since it’s already largely locked in.

Marc Sauvé, president of the Metcalfe Community Association, said he went to last week’s session — the fourth or fifth he’s attended — largely to raise the lack of affordable housing in rural Ottawa. Realistically, his hope is to tip the 2026 budget in that direction, not the one currently under discussion.

All the councillors I’ve spoken with on this — Luloff, Kelly and Brown, as well as Capital Ward’s Shawn Menard and Beacon Hill-Cyrville’s Tim Tierney — agree these budget sessions provide the public an opportunity to share concerns with their elected representatives, but the consensus is that this isn’t necessarily the best way.

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Tierney says he hears from constituents at various community events throughout the year or by email. Luloff, too, notes, that residents can easily seek out councillors year-round. “These sorts of forums allow for a deeper conversation, but I would just as soon meet anybody in this room for a cup of coffee on a Monday afternoon.”

If city councillors and staff seriously want to consult the public, they should turn these sessions into meetings that fold the ABCs of budgets in with actual public consultations, and hold them well before staff start most of the work of assembling the budget.

Springtime makes the most sense, since fall is too late, and summertime attendance would be even more dismal. Menard, for one, thinks April would be the sweet spot that would allow time for residents’ concerns to be incorporated in the budget. “The city needs to formalize a process well in advance of the budget drafting that would allow for this,” he says.

It makes perfect sense. I wonder when might be a good time to bring it up.

bdeachman@postmedia.com

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