The two Brians must get in sync

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/01/2019 (2123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a sliver of hope that the two most powerful Brians in the province would find common ground.

In December, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman met to discuss a shopping list of concerns, many of them created by what appears to be a nearly constant conflict over provincial support for civic programs and projects.

It was, to say the least, a trying year for the two leaders. Bowman faced a spirited challenge to his re-election bid in the civic election, but ultimately triumphed. Before he accomplished that task, however, he endured a year in which there were multiple battles with the province over funding.

The Pallister government is racing against time to get as close as possible to a balanced budget so that it can cut the provincial sales tax by one point, a key 2016 campaign promise. The drive to cut that tax, which will cost Pallister more than $300 million in revenue annually, has forced the province to keep a tight leash on its expenditures, including transfers to municipalities.

Provincial support for transit, ambulances and general operations has either been cut or frozen. Given that the city, by law, must not run a deficit, a variation of even a few million dollars here and there can have a significant effect on the bottom line.

Not many details of the December meeting were made public, so it was unclear whether any progress was made to smooth out their bumpy relationship. And then last week, seemingly out of nowhere, the mayor fired a new shot across the premier’s bow.

Bowman told reporters the city was going to delay the release of its 2019 operating budget to get formal written confirmation from the province on what kind of support the city will get this year. Bowman said he told Pallister in December the city does not expect more financial support this year, but would like assurances there would be no more cuts.

Bowman would not divulge how the premier responded to his request. However, given his statements last week, we can assume Pallister would not offer any such assurances. As a result, Bowman is delaying the civic-operations budget by an additional month, in the hopes he can get written confirmation of provincial support.

“We should know with greater certainty, and in advance, what we’re dealing with so we can make more informed decisions,” Bowman said.

On the surface, Bowman is making a reasonable point. The city should have more certainty about provincial funding to ensure the civic budget is accurate. However, the mayor is also being a bit unfair in his demand for written confirmation.

The city has never received written confirmation of provincial financial support until the provincial budget is tabled in March or April. In some years, that confirmation has come as late as June.

Why would the mayor ask for written confirmation much earlier than it normally receives? Largely, this demand is based on the fact the Pallister government has played its budget cards much closer to its vest than previous governments.

The city typically tables its budget in November and approves it in December. In a normal year, there is ongoing contact between civic and provincial officials on budget planning. The result is that by the time city council tables a budget, councillors have a relatively good indication of what the province is prepared to provide.

The Pallister government, however, has been much less willing to share the fine details of its funding intentions. It has also introduced changes to the way it provides funding to the city, which have led to significant reductions in support for some civic services.

In 2017, the province ended the practice of funding through nearly two dozen separate funding agreements and implemented a “single-basket” model. One of the consequences was an end to 50-50 funding models for services such as transit that further trimmed provincial support to the city

Is there a solution to the budget mayhem? With the Pallister government continuing to demonstrate a tough-love approach to civic funding, there is a way to provide more certainty: get the city and province on the same fiscal calendar.

The province operates on a fiscal year that runs from April 1 to March 31 of the following year. The city, meanwhile, operates on a traditional calendar year: Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The conflict between the two budgeting calendars has, over the years, created uncertainty for the city.

In a typical non-election year, the city would approve its budget at least three months before the province tables and passes its own budget. If the city were to move to fiscal-year budget planning, it would be in lock-step with the province and likely would have more certainty around funding levels.

Synching the two budget cycles doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. Bowman has already pushed back 2019 budgeting to the beginning of February; another month of delay seems an easy reach.

However, formalizing a move by the city to fiscal-year budgeting would likely require an amendment to provincial legislation that governs the city. That amendment would be hard to come by without some level of trust between the mayor and premier.

As we can see from Bowman’s statements from last week, there isn’t an abundance of trust in his relationship with Pallister.

A better budgeting process is within reach of the two leaders. But only if they are pulling in the same direction, towards the same goals and on the same schedule.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca