Third time’s the charm for Hamilton councillors’ budget bump

Hamilton city councillors have given themselves a $260,000 hike to ward office budgets they say will help them offer residents better services.

The infusion will be drawn from a reserve fund surplus and to be shared equally among those councillors who want a piece of it.

The increase comes after two attempts to increase the 15 ward budgets that didn't gain enough votes as the new council settled into office after the fall election.

It's about engaging our citizens and letting them know that their participation and engagement is so important," Flamborough councillor Ted McMeekin said upon floating his two-pronged motion Wednesday.

In a 10-3 vote, council backed the top-up, and then unanimously supported a future staff report analyzing ward finances and staffing levels.

The challenge that I have is we're doing this backwards," said Coun. Brad Clark, who voted against the hike along with councillors Tom Jackson (Ward 6) and Mike Spadafora (Ward 14).

Councillor office budgets were set during overall city spending deliberations last month, the veteran Stoney Creek councillor said.

And, as of April, four offices are already in deficit from what that approved budget was."

Those offices are trending toward having year-end deficit positions" according to some preliminary estimates," Mike Zegarac, general manager of finance and corporate services, told council.

That's due to a variety of factors, including staffing costs, noted Zegarac in an email to The Spectator, but didn't specify which wards.

As these are forecasts, these pressures can be mitigated by controlling other costs, and that is the work staff are currently leading with elected officials."

But potential year-end deficits didn't motivate the call to flow more funds to ward offices, Coun. Alex Wilson told The Spectator.

This is about delivering better services to residents," said the new Dundas councillor, adding supporters of the increase explicitly" campaigned last fall on such pledges.

And we got resounding majorities to do this."

Councillor office budgets vary by ward depending on a number of factors, including population, and range from $283,000 to $313,000.

The $260,000 is to be sourced from surplus OLG revenue from Flamborough that's parked in a $4-million capital reserve.

The infusion comes after a pitch led by Coun. Cameron Kroetsch to add $600,000 to council office budgets - or $40,000 each - failed on a tied vote during overall budget talks last month.

That followed a split vote in late November that rejected the new Ward 2 councillor's initial proposal to level ward budgets at $375,000 through a roughly $1.3-million increase over 2022.

I'll say, in my experience, we're offering a tremendous number of different services that didn't exist before," said Kroetsch, who seconded McMeekin's motion Wednesday.

That includes six town halls this year with one held in every neighbourhood in Ward 2, he said. We can't do that without having the support of two full-time staff in our office."

New Ancaster councillor Craig Cassar said he has fielded lots of feedback" that the previous Ward 12 office wasn't responsive enough, but his budget is too lean to pay his two people a full-time salary" to offer better service.

But the staffers, who are committed to civic duty, have agreed to work for less and have created such enhancements" as a monthly newsletter, a website and active social-media posts, Cassar noted.

We're not just asking for money because we want money. There is real impact."

Coun. Jeff Beattie, a first-term Ward 10 councillor, said his office is way behind where we wanted to be" on resident engagement.

But I'm also going to say that I'm not going to opt in for this term," added Beattie, explaining he first wants to examine the entire cycle" to better understand his office's shortfalls.

The expected staff analysis will also be helpful in that regard, he said. I think this will bring in an informed lens for future decision-making."

***CORRECTION: This article was updated on April 27 to correct a quote attributed to Coun. Craig Cassar. The Ancaster councillor said the previous ward office wasn't responsive enough to residents. The Spectator regrets the error.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com