Councillors freeze ward fund spending until public meeting

City councillors voted Tuesday to wait until a public meeting in March before deciding the fate of the city's controversial $600,000 ward funds.

The funds – which allocate $50,000 a year for each of the city's 12 wards – have been the source of controversy because councillors have direct spending control over the money for their wards. That has led critics to dub them “slush funds” and call for their elimination.

Many of the current members of city council were elected on promises of reforming the funds, by returning spending control back to city staff, or getting rid of them altogether.

At their meeting Tuesday, councillors initially had two options: eliminate HCI spending for 2015, and spread $510,000 in unspent funds among the 12 wards; or maintain them as a budget item.

Lorella Hayes, the city's chief financial officer, said staff was looking for direction on whether they could use the $600,000 to help them freeze taxes this year without cutting jobs or services.

Staff is already looking at taking money from reserve funds and unspent capital projects, Hayes said, but finding enough money “is certainly a challenge.”

“It would go toward achieving a zero per cent property tax increase,” Hayes said, of eliminating new HCI spending for 2015. “It was a one-time reduction, not a permanent reduction.”

But councillors were reluctant to eliminate the funds before a March 25 public input session seen as key to the future of the funds.

Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac and Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann both made a passionate plea to retain the funds, pointing to a long list of projects the funds have made possible.

Dutrisac said poorer wards such as hers have been able to use the money to make significant improvements in their neighborhoods. What people really seem to object to, she said, is the fact councillors can spend the money directly, rather than going through staff.

“Some people question the way they are distributed,” she said. “I don't see it as a slush fund, I see it as a HCI fund.

 “Let's change the method, but let's keep the amounts for each of our areas … We need to make sure that every ward in our city has an equal amount.”

And Landry-Altmann blamed the media for misreporting the true nature of the funds, and challenged them to do a better job.

“Please report accurately,” she said.

Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre objected to the idea of distributing unspent funds across all 12 wards, something he said would punish wards like, his, which has $109,000 leftover, and Ward 9, which has $110,000 remaining.

That compares to Ward 5, which had $2,690 left, and Ward 10, which has $7,750.

Ward 11 Coun. Lynne Reynolds suggested combining the two funds – the $600,000 for 2015, and the $510,000 in unspent money – to help pay for the more than $2 million in requests they received during the public input session for the city budget.

Her idea received little support, as many councillors said they weren't opposed to the funds, just the fact politicians were making the spending decisions directly.

Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier said he would go through staff for every single expenditure, “even the smallest, most minute request.” And Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh said she supported HCI in principle, but “managing it in a different way.”

And Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan argued that eliminating the funds would break Mayor Brian Bigger's promise to freeze taxes without cutting services.

“If you're going to have the same level of services, it should still be there,” Kirwan said.