Video streaming York Region council meetings could cost taxpayers $500,000

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 22, 2016
By Lisa Queen

The price tag for video streaming York Region council meetings has jumped from an estimated $125,000 to as much as $500,000 and councillors haven’t even decided if they want it yet.

The higher cost would give councillors a top-notch system, regional chair Wayne Emmerson said.

“We were told...you wanted a Cadillac. Having a Cadillac would be not just one camera, it would be a bunch of cameras and you have to have someone on those cameras,” he said.

“You actually have to do it like a show. It’s a show being put on.”

Back in September, council asked staff to bring back a report in three months investigating the idea.

At the time, it was suggested the cost could be in the neighbourhood of $125,000.

But when the staff report came back to the Dec. 15 council meeting, which is when the 2017 budget was approved, Emmerson warned councillors they would have to set aside $500,000 immediately if they wanted to bankroll video streaming next year.

Councillors would have had to have hiked taxes by 2.92 per cent next year rather than the planned 2.87 per cent.

Some of the costs would be one-time capital expenses and some would be ongoing operational costs.

Councillors kept the tax increase at 2.87 per cent and said they will revisit the video streaming proposal early next year, including less expensive options.

But don’t expect it to come cheap, Emmerson said.

“The cost is about half a million dollars to do that. You may say 'Why?' Because, what it is, is that the lighting in this room, they had consultants come in and the consultants say the lighting has to be changed.”

The custom lighting was installed when the headquarters was built in 1992.

In addition, proposed amendments to the Municipal Act which would allow councillors to participate in meetings electronically, so it may make sense to install the equipment for that at the same time as the video streaming if council decides to pursue it, Emmerson said.

“This is what it takes and if we’re going to do it, we’re going to have to look at other things in this room so when you tear this place apart, you’re going to tear it apart once,” he said.

Newmarket Coun. John Taylor questioned why the venture could be so expensive, but said video streaming is worth pursuing.

“Many of us have this in our (local) council chambers. The cost here seems immense compared to other municipalities and I don’t fully understand that,” he said.

“I will say this, we invest heavily in making sure we have first-class infrastructure when we do things at York Region. And democratic participation is becoming more and more and more important. This the opportunity when we are looking at other changes as well to do this and do this right. I think we should consider investing in it.”

The region already audio streams its council and committee of the whole meetings over the Internet.

It also makes presentations available to the public online so they can follow along.