Deep dive into parks budget a window for public to understand spending, says CAO

'It's an opportunity to ask, is this program still relevant in 2019?’ said CAO Fareed Amin

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Council dove deep into the parks, recreation and culture department’s core services during the strategic initiatives standing committee meeting on Thursday (Nov. 28).

The deep dive is part of a plan set out by chief administrative officer Fareed Amin to give each department in the town an opportunity to explain all the work that goes into each department.

“This was a commitment that was made by me as part of the 2019 budget deliberations. The objective was to try and do a thorough review of every single department throughout the four years of a council term,” said Amin. “This is not an exercise in cost containment. This is about relevance and value-added, and a way of opening up the budget to the public so you can understand how the money is being spent.”

“It’s also an opportunity as staff for us to examine in detail the expenditures you’re asking council and the public to fund,” he added.

Coun. Mariane McLeod asked Parks, Recreation and Culture Director Dean Collver if staff found any efficiencies through the exercise.

“The short answer is no. This modelling allows us to take a look at the relationship between resources and outcomes. In many ways, we’re finding we actually strapped a bit,” said Collver.

Amin noted councillors should take a closer look at the list of programs attached to the presentation.

“If there are things in there that you think, as elected officials, that we shouldn’t be doing, we should talk about that and possibly some of the consequences of that,” said Amin. “It’s an opportunity to ask, is this program still relevant in 2019?”

The two parks, recreation and culture program streams in the overview were active living across the life span and community inclusion through culture, art and social connection.

In the active living program were items such as the aquatics and sailing school services, outdoor activity and natural spaces, communication, indoor activity and active events. Each item was further broken down in the documents.

In the community inclusion program were town events, cultural spaces and activities, communication, recreation services, support for the arts and conservation/heritage. Each item in this stream was also broken down further in the document.

Public budget presentations are taking place during the strategic initiatives standing committee meeting on Thursday at 5 p.m. in council chambers.