This new mayor of yours, Vancouver, is doing things a little differently on the transparency front.
Sometime this week, you will be able to go to the city鈥檚 website and check out Mayor Kennedy Stewart鈥檚 previous month鈥檚 calendar of appointments. The calendar will list names of people he met with or talked to by telephone, and events he attended since inaugurated Nov. 5.
That鈥檚 a good thing, said every reporter in the city who has had to previously request such information via the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Why should you care?
Because such information can give you a sense of who has the ear of the mayor, and who and what is important to Stewart as he settles in at city hall to serve a four-year term.
Of course, it would be na茂ve to assume politicians put all their appointments in their calendar. But the move by Stewart suggests some early good will on his promise to be more transparent about his business as mayor.
In that spirit, Stewart also plans to post this week a fairly easy-to-read breakdown of his $1.3 million office budget for 2019, something his predecessors never did.
Stewart鈥檚 budget breakdown will include pie charts.
Those charts will show the bulk of Stewart鈥檚 budget--$577,000鈥攚ill be spent on salaries of his staff, which includes two co-chiefs of staff, a director of communications and policy and at least two 鈥渟pecial assistants鈥� to the mayor.
Stewart鈥檚 salary for 2019 will be $176,000.
Memberships and event fees for such organizations as the 麻豆传媒映画Board of Trade are budgeted at $80,000. A total of $91,000 is being set aside for meeting expenses ($15,000), transportation ($14,000), local expenses ($16,000) and phones ($10,000).
Benefits, the employer health tax and 鈥渙ther costs鈥� amount to $99,000.
The mayor budgeted for $70,000 in travel expenses next year, although he made it clear in a scrum following his inauguration that he didn鈥檛 plan to travel a lot, saying his focus was in 麻豆传媒映画and addressing the housing crisis.
His predecessor, , was frequently on the road, or in the air.
For example, in 2017, Robertson visited the following places: Victoria, Ottawa, Haida Gwaii, Seattle, Toronto, Chicago, Belgium, New York, Australia and China. The tabs for at least four of those trips were picked up by organizers, including $5,918 at the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy Board meeting in Belgium.
Taxpayers鈥� portion of Robertson鈥檚 tabs for travel and conferences in 2017 totalled $41,820.
Stewart is posting his budget during the same week he and council are expected to approve next year鈥檚 $1.5-billion operating budget and $371 million in new capital spending. That proposed budget comes with a 4.9 per cent property tax increase and hikes in utility and recreation fees.
Those increases are not lost on NPA Coun. Lisa Dominato, who successfully moved a motion last week to have city staff review the budgets of the mayor and council to look for cost savings. Dominato wanted the review to be conducted before this week鈥檚 budget vote, but it will instead be done for the 2020 budget.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incumbent upon us to go look in the mirror and say, 鈥極K, where can we go sharpen the pencil internally?鈥欌�� said Dominato, who was among eight new councillors elected Oct. 20. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should be rubber stamping a budget that鈥檚 just come forward in the last number of weeks to us as a new council. It concerns me that there鈥檚 a bit of rush to adopt this budget as it is.鈥�
Dominato鈥檚 research showed the mayor鈥檚 budget under Robertson increased by 24 per cent in 2015 and, as Stewart鈥檚 budget revealed, is now more than $1 million. The budget for all 10 councillors,听which includes salaries and benefits, is $1.7 million.
Councillors, by the way, will earn close to
Dominato emphasized her motivation for a review is not personal, but by a need to see how the city can lessen the load on residents burdened by ever-increasing costs. Annual property tax increases, rent hikes and increases in gas prices, transit fares, insurance rates and food prices are realities of living in Vancouver.
鈥淚f no one asks the question, then it鈥檚 not going to get looked at,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a part of our job in terms of good governance.鈥�
Council will meet Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. to debate the operating budget and new capital spending for an anticipated final vote, although some councillors hinted at previous meetings that a vote might be deferred until the new year.
The provincial government鈥檚 deadline to pass a balanced operating budget is April 1.
@Howellings
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