City hall preps for first multi-year budget

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This article was published 14/04/2019 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To prepare for Winnipeg’s first multi-year budget, city councillors will be participating in a two-day, strategic planning session.

Councillors were informed about the upcoming event in a Monday afternoon email from City of Winnipeg chief administrative office Doug McNeil.

Working with the councillors will be a team from the local office of KPMG LLG, which has just been awarded a $100,000 contract for the job.

Dates for the planning sessions have not yet been determined.

“KPMG proposes two separate days, with five-hour planning sessions each day and separated by up to two weeks,” McNeil said in the email. “We will be reviewing potential dates with KPMG and working around the council and committee meeting schedule.”

Council will be diverting from its traditional annual budget plan for 2020, when it will develop a four-year operating budget.

The four-year budget will set out council’s expected spending priorities for 2020 through to 2023, including expected annual property tax increases for each of those years.

However, provincial legislation continues to require council to set an annual budget. This will mean each annual component of the four-year budget will be subject to a review, and a formal vote by council, to ensure events are consistent with the budget forecast.

McNeil told councillors the KPMG team will conduct “focused confidential one-on-one interviews” with each member of council ahead of the strategic planning sessions, which will occur over three afternoons.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca