By Andrew de Souza

Call for mandatory financial statements from outside agencies

Jan 26, 2011 | 5:28 AM

City council has decided that from now on, external agencies requesting funds from the city must provide financial statements and action plans for their requests to be eligible.

Coun. Cheryl Ring put the motion forward. She said it was necessary because of the amount of money involved.

“We have this big, mammoth entity in front of us called the budget and we’re trying to do the best that we can with divvying up those funds between departments and the wants and the needs of the people and external agencies, you need something to evaluate those needs by,” said Ring.

“I can’t justify to the citizens of Prince Albert why I’m giving a certain organization a certain amount of money if I don’t know their operations.”

Coun. Greg Dionne said he agreed with Ring, but added there should be more than just financials but also an action plan for the upcoming year.

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“This year we’ve had some huge requests for increases from our external agencies and I’d like to see a plan on what they’re doing to deal with their rising costs and to justify even more than just a financial statement on why we should even improve their increase,” he said.

Coun. Martin Ring said it was reasonable in principle, but it was unfair to demand it of agencies since the city had made its deadlines significantly earlier with its earlier budget process.

In the past, the city had worked on requiring outside agencies to provide their financials but it was never finalized.

“We’re now asking for documentation by as early as September or October,” said Ring.

“We’ve got some of our external agencies that do not year ends until March or April. So I’m just curious how we think we’re going to handle that.”

After the debate, council voted in favour of the requirement.

City financial manager Joe Day said currently, there is nothing to compel external groups from giving financial numbers, though some do out of courtesy.

He said the spirit of the motion is understandable, but the city has a lot of informal agreements with organizations that provide various services and it’ll take some legal wrangling to come up with a workable policy.

“We’re going to have to evaluate each of those organization and find out what our relationship with them,” said Day.

“But could we enforce it? If they’re strictly just a grant recipient agency, that they’re not really providing services to us under a contract or we’ve got some sort of agreement that we pay a membership, then yes.

“If they decide to say no (to providing financial statements) then well, you don’t get any money.”

For the 2011 budget year, 11 external agencies requested from the city an additional $350,000 in funds. The city is recommending increasing the funding to agencies by about $177,000.

adesouza@panow.com

(Eds. note: It was originally reported that 16 agencies asking for $700,000, but that was an incorrect figure)

Requests city administration recommends approving

Expansion of Emergency Communications Centre
$0
Cost is $3.5 million. Paid for by higher governments.

Prince Albert Downtown Improvement District Association
$0
Levies based on taxes.

Prince Albert Historical Society Grant
$0
 

Prince Albert District Planning Commission
$1,740
PADPC wants $2,240 for wages, computer. City administration allows for $1,740

Prince Albert Tourism
-$31,210
Losing a staff member

Prince Albert Arts Board
$122,730
Suggested to increase to $310,000 to cover cost of facility use by local entities. Administration suggests $122,730.

SPCA
$10,000
SPCA wants $144,000. City recommendation

Community Service Centre – Senior's Transportation
$1,870
The organization wants $15,200. City administration has budgeted for $1,870

Community Service Centre – Special Needs
$65,610
Asked for $15,810. City approved $14,930 plus $50,680 for fleet costs.

Wapiti
-$69,230
Requested $1.2 million to make up for costs lost in 2010.

JMC Library
$75,850
Increase in funding.

Requests city administration recommends denying

Prince Albert District Planning Commission
$500
Difference between original request and city recommendation

Prince Albert Tourism
$1,200
Difference between request and city recommendation

Community Service Centre- Senior's Transportation
$13,330
Difference between request and city recommendation

Community Services Centre – Special Needs
$25,870
Difference between request and city recommendation

SPCA
$134,040
Difference between request and city recommendation