Speculation that the city will propose a cap on the amount of funding that councillors can donate to community causes has been criticized by community leaders.
Although the plan is yet to be confirmed, the rumoured proposal would limit the amount of money that could be contributed to the community and community events from each councillor’s budget.
Capital Ward Coun. David Chernushenko says the proposal is unnecessary when a councillor’s annual budget must cover staffing, office equipment, hiring professionals and community donations.
Councillors each had a budget of $234,000 in 2012.
“We are all being reasonable with our budgets and we know it’s transparent,” Chernushenko says.
Currently, Chernushenko makes donations to community associations, pays for planning reviews and purchases prizes for competitions.
These contributions may be threatened if the proposal was to go ahead.
One example, Chernushenko says, is his goal of enhancing the green space and atmosphere of streets by removing cars from narrow front yards.
As there is no city program that covers this, his office plans to hire a professional city planning consultant at a cost of $10,000.
However, if the proposal goes ahead, there would be no budget for such an idea, he says, which would constitute a serious problem.
Rob Dekker, vice-president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, says that the proposal is disempowering to the community and councillors.
“The councillors are elected to work with the community and to support the community,” he says. “I’m not sure they need to be saddled with another regulation.”
Bob Brocklebank, a member of the Federation of Community Associations, says the plan presents serious limitations for the community by reducing the community’s civil engagement.
Brocklebank says for citizen’s associations issues such as renting halls for large community meetings could become a problem because the associations may not have the money to rent space without council assistance.