Why spend $15K on York Region council retreat?, York U professor asks

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 5, 2015
By Lisa Queen

While York Region mayors and regional councillors are calling a three-day, closed-door education session last week a worthwhile exercise, a York University political professor wonders how members can justify spending up to $15,000 of taxpayers’ money on the retreat.

“$15,000 seems like a lot. When our department (at the university) goes on a retreat, it doesn’t spend $15,000,” Robert MacDermid said.

“I think councillors should be aware of restraint and if they can have these events in facilities they own, taxpayers would probably appreciate that.”

Mayors, regional councillors and top staff attended the retreat from Jan. 28 to 30 at the Kingsbridge Conference Centre in King Township to discuss issues and priorities facing the region as they begin this term of council.

The Municipal Act allows municipalities to hold closed-door sessions if the purpose is to educate or train members of council and as long as no member discusses or deals with matters in a way that materially advances the business or decision-making of council.

The retreat’s budget was between $12,000 and $15,000, depending on how many politicians and officials stayed over.

While MacDermid agreed education sessions are reasonable, especially for new councillors, he questioned the justification of holding an off-site retreat costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin, who headlined a Toronto Taxpayers Federation session in Richmond Hill last night that examined the need for greater municipal transparency, has tweeted about the regional retreat in recent days.

Internal council relationships may be done in-camera (behind closed doors) if it’s education training…If the strategic planning is to lay the groundwork for city business, it must be done publicly, he tweeted on Jan. 31.

“Education’s secrecy exception @YorkRegionGovt can apparently be stretched to mean anything at all. Who needs a council chamber? another tweet on Jan. 31 said.

Marin could not be reached for comment by press time.

However, mayors and regional councillors called the long working days they put in at the retreat in the best interests of taxpayers.

Many medium and large businesses hold off-site retreats, which ultimately boost their bottom lines, Newmarket Councillor John Taylor said.

He said he would be “very concerned” if an organization, such as the region, in charge of a $3 billion budget didn’t take the time to educate new councillors and refresh the minds of veteran politicians as they prepare for a new term and face four-year budget deliberations.

“I would say poor decision-making versus good decision-making can cost taxpayers real dollars, real money,” he said.

“I would be very concerned if somebody said to me if York Region was not going to have a strategic planning retreat at the beginning of each term, even if people criticize it. I would stand behind this all day long.”

Taylor’s sentiments were echoed by other mayors and councillors.

“It’s very informative, especially at the beginning of the term,” Vaughan Councillor Gino Rosati said.

He wants council to reduce a proposed tax increase of more than 12 per cent over four years during public budget discussions.

“I’m looking to achieve a more moderate tax increase and implement a long-term strategy of debt reduction as soon as possible as well as maintaining very good services,” he said.

The education session was important as a lead-in to council’s budget deliberations, Richmond Hill Councillor Brenda Hogg said.

Commissioners each presented information about their departments’ ongoing operations as well as changing expectations and trends and new legislative demands that could impact budget deliberations, she said.

Georgina Mayor Margaret Quirk found the retreat helpful.

“As a new member of regional council, I felt the session was extremely helpful to me in learning more about the various departments, how they interconnect and how they provide the services to the residents of York Region,” she said in an email.

“Also, the ability for me to meet and talk with regional staff and other members of regional council in an informal setting was very beneficial.”

Aurora Mayor Geoff Dawe agreed.

“I found the session to be most beneficial. It was certainly intensive, with a lot of good information, some of which we will be using in our upcoming budget discussions,” he said in an email,.

“There is also a substantial, but difficult to quantify, benefit of the substantive discussions we have with our council colleagues as we achieve a better understanding of how our issues interconnect and how we can help each other.”

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said he found the session very rewarding.

“Any time you are solely focusing on the material being presented, it is the ideal condition for in-depth and open dialogue, resulting in the generation and sharing of ideas and, perhaps, most importantly, the establishment of a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities York Region offers,” he said in an email.

“In this type of forum, the interaction amongst participants results in a greater appreciation of the individual perspectives, which ultimately will be beneficial to the collective.”

The session was informative and a great update for the beginning of a new term under new regional chairperson Wayne Emmerson, Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow said.

King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini also called the retreat very informative.

A large binder provided after the retreat to The York Region Media Group contained information and presentations given to councillors during the education session.

Issues included:

• managing the region’s population as it grows to 1.8 million residents, up from 1.1 million in 2013, and encouraging economic development as employment grows to 900,000 jobs in 2041, up from 550,000 in 2013;

• the lack of affordable housing means even well-paid professionals, such as police officers, nurses and teachers, are finding it difficult to buy homes in the region;

• the limited availability of rental units means there will be 13,700 seniors and youth looking for accommodation by 2031, while only about 600 new rental units will be created;

• income inequality in the region, with the top 20 per cent of the wage earners taking home more than half the income;

• York’s low crime rate compared to other large Canadian municipalities, although councillors were told at a committee meeting last month that York Regional Police are looking to hire 129 new officers and 51 civilian staff over the next four years to respond to population growth;

• a reduction in the amount of money spent on capital projects over the next 10 years and a shift in priorities. The region will spend $5.7 billion on capital projects over the next decade, down from the $6.6 billion it had forecasted last year. Transportation services will take up 37 per cent of the total, up from the 29 per cent forecasted last year, while water and wastewater projects will fall to 37 per cent, down from the forecasted 46 per cent. Other projects are holding steady at about a quarter of the capital budget.

• the region’s debt, used to finance infrastructure, now stands at $2.54 billion, of which 85 per cent will be repaid through development charges on new growth. At the same time, development charges are about $660 million less than the region had anticipated after passing its development charges bylaw in 2012;

• Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the region’s credit rating from AAA to AA+/Stable in 2014 because it deemed the region’s capital spending as too high and expressed concerns about its high debt burden.