City of Winnipeg trying to shirk financial accountability, Wyatt says

WinnipegCoun. Russ Wyatt is steamed at a proposal from city administration, which he says is an attempt to dodge financial accountability.

City administration wants the thresholdfor when a capital project is reported to the finance committeeincreasedfrom $10 million to $20 million.

In a report to the executive policy committee (EPC) on Wednesday,administrative staff recommended the change to"reflect construction inflation since council originally adopted the policy in 1999."

The EPC unanimously passed the motion, which will next go before city council for a discussion and vote next week.

Wyatt said the motionis absurd, since the current threshold is supposed to make sure projects are reported on early and monitored properly, ensuring they are on budget"before the 11th hour" when problems would becomehard to deal with.

High-profile problems

But even with those checks in place, there have been a number of high-profile problems. Construction projects such as the police headquarters and the firehallatRoute 90 andPortageAvenueexperiencedmillions of dollars in cost overruns.

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"The track record of administration has not been all that great when it comes to implementing capital projects," Wyatt said.

Rather than increasing the threshold for financial reporting, it should be reduced to $5 million, he said, adding he tried that a couple of years ago but met stiff resistance from administration and then-mayor Sam Katz.

If the threshold goes up "you're going to have less reporting; you're going to have less accountabilityand less openness," Wyatt said.

And that is contrary to what Mayor Brian Bowman who was elected one year ago on Oct. 22, 2014 campaigned on, he added.

Raising cap

Bowman said raising the cap on reporting for major financial projects is being done because inflation has made the work much more expensive.

He said there will more transparency not less.

City hall is moving into a new era where all the financial data on projects will be posted on the city's website, Bowman said.

"Every dollar that's spent on capital expenditures is going to be posted online. That's never been done, whether it's in small pieces or large ticket items," Bowman told reporters Wednesday following the EPC meeting.

Bowman says the city has also created a new position chief project management officer where a senior staff member is going to oversee big projects.

City wants to borrow more money

Executive Policy Committee also passed a motion today that raises the amount the city can borrow for big ticket projects. Increasing the ceiling on borrowing will allow the city to borrow up to $250 million more than it can under current rules.

Bowman said it will allow the city to take advantage of cheap rates to borrow money.

"These are fixed interest costs on record low interest rates and we do have serious needs for investment in infrastructure. One of the most notable projects that this change will likely benefit is the Waverley underpass and that is something that's very important to Winnipeggers."

Finance chair Marty Morantz, who has been a fiscal hawk at city hall, said they can lock in some borrowing at low rates no matter what happens.

"Most of our debt is locked in for very long periods of time and the interest rate is set, so even if interest rates went up in a few years, to, say, 14 per cent or whatever, if we borrowed at 3.7 per cent for 30 years, that's our rate for 30 years."

Morantz said the city is within acceptable debt ratio limits based on its credit rating.