By Andrew de Souza

City budget to be more transparent

Nov 25, 2010 | 3:26 PM

City of Prince Albert staff are working towards a more transparent budget process that would better document budget changes for different departments and make the information more accessible to councillors and members of the public.

In the summer, councillors complained that the budget process was difficult to understand and often, councillors were asked to rubber stamp changes without any consultation.

In response, the city’s financial department has been working on improving the process in two ways.

First, they are speeding up the process by four months. In the past the budget was approved in March, now it will be approved in mid-January.

Secondly, the department will also create what they consider more transparent budget documents, said Joe Day, director of the city’s financial services.

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“We’re trying to redraft the format of our budget documents so that it really achieves that request of council for more transparency and easier to follow for both themselves and the public that are interested in the budget process,” said Day.

“If there’s ever been accusations that our documents have been cryptic in the past and hard to follow, we’re trying to address those concerns.”

According to a report from Day, that will include a standard formatting between documents, summaries of various sections of the budget, illustrated charts and more detailed information.

Currently, city managers are meeting to present draft budgets. As well the city’s police service has presented a preliminary budget. None of the documents have been made public.

According to the currently accepted timeline, the city’s budget will be presented to council on Dec. 13 and made public. On Jan. 13, the budget will be open for public consultation.

adesouza@panow.com