A low grade for the City of Windsor when it comes fiscal transparency.
A recent report, The Municipal Money Mystery: Fiscal Accountability in Canada’s Cities, 2023, by the C.D. Howe Institute looks at the budgets and financial statements of 32 major Canadian municipalities.
The authors believe all governments should present financial information that is transparent, useful and timely but their annual report card on the fiscal transparency of Canada’s largest cities shows that too many do not.
The stars in 2023 were Quebec City and Richmond, with As for clarity, completeness, and promptness.
Markham, Saskatoon and Vancouver earned grades of A-.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, London, and Windsor got Fs.
Their low grades reflect multiple issues with transparency, reliability and timeliness according to the report.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides, report co-author and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute Bill Robson says they try to put themselves in the position of someone who isn't an expert on budgets or financial statements.
"Some of the marks that we give are really kind of straight forward things. We mark the timeliness, so did you do your budget before the beginning of the fiscal year, did you publish your financial statements in a timely way. None of this is going tremendously deep and we're not making judgements about whether a city spent wisely or foolishly, or taxed too much or too little," he said.
The report finds most municipalities still present budgets that don't match their financial statements, which means people can't compare plans and results, and can't see what a budget implies for a municipality’s capacity to deliver services in the future.
Robson says even though Windsor did poorly overall on their marks, when you look at the annual report the city publishes at the end of the year there's one page showing all revenues, expenses and what the surplus was.
"For people in Windsor who are wondering after budget time, you're thinking 'oh there must've been a colossal deficit' no, Windsor runs a surplus. It's actually in reasonably good financially shape, and when you look at that, the question I'm always asking myself is why at budget time can't they just do the same thing?"
He says being more transparent is always the way to go, to try and cut off any suspicious or worries about what local governments are doing.
"When you look at Windsor's financial statements you'll see not just the results for the year relative to the previous year, but you'll also see budget numbers. But the problem is the budget numbers that you're seeing aren't the same numbers that were in the budget. You would need to have an army of accountants to figure out the difference, and the city could just publish it on its own," he stated.
Robson says a slowing economy, demands for housing and infrastructure, and constrained finances of senior governments will cause financial stresses for municipalities in the years ahead.
He believes better information would help raise the financial management and fiscal accountability of cities like Windsor to a level more in line with their importance in Canadians’ lives.
- with files from AM800's the The Shift