I appreciate you trying to make first steps in helping the average person get more involved in the budget process, but this article falls victim to one of the problems: the words used. Big words are used to obscure, confuse and alienate.
Consider these questions:
"How much capacity do we have to take on debt for big capital investments?"
"What are the future cost or revenue implications of the infrastructure investments we make today?"
"Does the budget clearly lay out the level of reserves by category, and identify whether there are any surpluses or deficiencies in reserves?"
Right away, you're using the terminology meant to keep people away and disinterested instead of writing in common, everyday words. For example, why isn't the first sentence "How much money can the city borrow for big construction projects like buildings, highways or parks? What could happen if we borrow that much?"
Another question I often wonder about is "How much of this budget is re-invested directly into our community?"
For example, Waste Management (WM) is contracted to do many garbage & recycling contracts in municipalities across Canada through many multimillion dollar tenders. If 35% to 38% of every dollar given to that Texas-based company is "gross profits" then how much of that spending actually directly benefits our community? Moreover, could such information be considered or incorporated into future procurement processes? Perhaps the amount of federal, provincial and municipal property tax the bidding organization(s) contribute back to our society could somehow be a rated requirement. ;-)
I love these questions! I wonder if #2 could be extended to include other juridictions not just in Ontario or Canada, but other countries as well. I think I saw some municipal/property tax type of data in one of the global datasets... will try to dig that up.
Our community association was stunned when the City refused to share ANY sort of data related to #10 with us. Neither $ raised by our Ward or borough/district nor spending by Ward or borough/district.
I appreciate you trying to make first steps in helping the average person get more involved in the budget process, but this article falls victim to one of the problems: the words used. Big words are used to obscure, confuse and alienate.
Consider these questions:
"How much capacity do we have to take on debt for big capital investments?"
"What are the future cost or revenue implications of the infrastructure investments we make today?"
"Does the budget clearly lay out the level of reserves by category, and identify whether there are any surpluses or deficiencies in reserves?"
Right away, you're using the terminology meant to keep people away and disinterested instead of writing in common, everyday words. For example, why isn't the first sentence "How much money can the city borrow for big construction projects like buildings, highways or parks? What could happen if we borrow that much?"
Great feedback. Thanks so much!
Another question I often wonder about is "How much of this budget is re-invested directly into our community?"
For example, Waste Management (WM) is contracted to do many garbage & recycling contracts in municipalities across Canada through many multimillion dollar tenders. If 35% to 38% of every dollar given to that Texas-based company is "gross profits" then how much of that spending actually directly benefits our community? Moreover, could such information be considered or incorporated into future procurement processes? Perhaps the amount of federal, provincial and municipal property tax the bidding organization(s) contribute back to our society could somehow be a rated requirement. ;-)
(source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WM/waste-management/profit-margins)
I love these questions! I wonder if #2 could be extended to include other juridictions not just in Ontario or Canada, but other countries as well. I think I saw some municipal/property tax type of data in one of the global datasets... will try to dig that up.
Our community association was stunned when the City refused to share ANY sort of data related to #10 with us. Neither $ raised by our Ward or borough/district nor spending by Ward or borough/district.