REVISED LSAC 2018 DRAFT BUDGET PART 2

Today three of LSARA’s Executive took the time out of our schedules to attend the County Council and Administration Meeting.  We let you all know yesterday that we felt that this was an important meeting.  Some of our executive members got together last week and conducted a comprehensive review of the Proposed 2018 LSAC Budget. LSARA posted it for your review and feedback and it was also posted on the County Website.

A line by line assessment of the budget was conducted to try to understand what the inputs and outputs are.  This is a daunting task when you are not an accountant.  We are fortunate that some of our executive have business experience and are able to at least tear down a budget to compare commonalities and ask meaningful questions regarding the line items.  How it was spent, was it part of a continuing budget item, was it an emergency budget item etc.  Is it short term borrowing, long term, is it funded by MSI (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) by Linear funding from the Provinces assessments, tax dollars collected on Improved and vacant properties to name a few.

When we attended today, we had a prepared list of questions that we had printed in order to provide them to council to request clarification.  This list arose from our review of the First Draft Budget of March 29. Council accepted this from us and indicated they would do their best to answer our queries and get back to us.

Prior to the Council meeting this morning, LSARA requested a paper copy of the Operating and Capital Budget that was being presented in Chambers.  As promised, we were provided a paper copy when we entered chambers.  We assume that this was the same document that was provided to Council this morning with their agenda, minutes and supplementary information for the meeting. 

This copy was not a Line by Line copy but rather a condensed "FINAL VERSION" copy.  Unfortunately this condensed copy makes it difficult to compare to the previous Draft Version as critical information was not included.  We did request a full Line by Line version from Robert Osmond to review and do feel that Council should have been presented same copy for comparison purposes.

The Assistant County Manager and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Robert Osmond provided a brief summary on the budget that was presented with Administration recommendation to Council that the budget be approved as presented.

Council had previously conducted the same exercise as LSARA wherein they went through the items line by line.  Why should they be expected to rubber stamp a condensed document that they were seeing for the first time?  With trepidation, we waited to see what the response was going to be to the recommendation.  The Reeve indicated that he thought that it would be a better idea if they were all provided an opportunity to review the document prior to offering any approvals. BRAVO!!!!

Administration cautioned council that they are mandated to have the budget approved and presented to Municipal affairs by the end of April leaving no time to correct should the budget not be approved at this meeting.  The Reeve and Council held steadfast and they made the motion that they will take the proposed now “Draft” 2018 Budget Plan to review and bring back to the April 26th Council meeting.  Council indicated that there may be a need for a special meeting if there are any correction deletions, additions or changes to the budget.

This will also allow Council to review and respond to our queries as related to the previous draft and will also provide LSARA the opportunity to further review the now new Draft document and provide our feedback, questions as we see them.

There are Items that we already know we have some queries with respect to, one of which will be how changes to the municipal tax rate will affect Ratepayers.  There are certainly increases, but it is difficult to assess how much this will be for each individual.  Additionally, it also appears at this time that assessments will be an additional factor that will have the ability to raise taxes.  Stay tuned on that part.

One of the items that came out of the Auditors Report of the 2017 Financial Statement was a 1.5 Million Dollar Deficiency in Budgeted Revenue vs. Actual Received Revenue. 

The auditor stated that is an undesirable position to be in to have to make up for the shortfall.

The 2017 budget projected revenues came from items such as assuming that a grant would be available to fund roadwork. The monies were spent and the funding was not approved. 1.5 million dollars. That is a lot of coin.  That is a risk that we cannot afford to continue to take!

Some of the positives that we noted from attending today's council meeting are:

• We now receive agenda's complete with attachments upon request prior to the meeting. 
• We now can follow and understand what is being presented at the meetings. 
• Question were allowed from the floor during the meeting making it more engaging. 
• Kudos to council for doing the right thing and ensuring that they have an opportunity to review all the budget, operating forecast and capital plans before putting their stamp on it. 

We have to find a way to all work together and today was a good start to that process.  The Ratepayers want more engagement.  We want to be part of how the decisions are made and the only way that can happen is to have them communicated to us.  We are going to get there, bit by bit.

Mark the next Council Meeting on your calendar and plan to attend on the 26th of April at 9:30 am in council chambers.

In the meantime, LSARA will once again conduct a review of the “Draft” Budget we received today and present any further questions we have to Council in a timely fashion so they have an opportunity to obtain responses prior to approval and submission.