Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott | City of Calgary Office of the Aldermen

There is a proposal by some of my colleagues to send the proposed budget back to administration for more work. I have clearly come out opposed to this as I do believe it is a shirking of our responsibilities as a Council.

As a Council, all 15 of us, we have worked on this budget for nine months, giving Administration direction, approving proposals (approval means a majority of Council members voted to support), which commit us to items in the budget which we deemed necessary. All 15 of us brought our experience and our constituent's requests and concerns to each strategic planning meeting. We have, all 15 of us, worked hard to give direction to administration, based on this, as to what we wanted to see reflected in the budget. And, they have delivered to us what we asked for. We could not have this proposed budget before us if we, as a Council, had not given direction to Administration over the past nine months.

Before us is the culmination of what all of those collaborative decisions over several months looks like. It is our turn, all 15 of us, to work on this proposed budget and get it to a final version that we can approve. That is our role. To send it back to administration is not doing our job, and it is not owning up to the direction we have gave. It is trying to get us off the hook of doing the actual hard work of finalizing the budget.

And now, because we have a budget before us that needs work, that we don't like, that the public doesn't like - the proposal is to scrap it? What can we take from that? What are we, Calgarians, to think then of the work that we, all 15 Members of Council, did over the previous nine months? Do some of my colleagues feel they were not representing their priorities when they voted, repeatedly, in favour of the additions and directions for the budget? Do some of my colleagues feel they "didn't know what they were approving at the time?"

How can scrapping the budget and demanding a 're-do' requiring many months more work from Administration and Council be a cost savings? This proposed budget is for us, all 15 of us, to deal with. Now.

I have heard from you about this proposed budget. I am prepared to take your concerns and work on the budget so that we can craft it into a working plan that will be acceptable.

Throwing it back is not about doing that work. It is about avoiding our responsibility to you, it is about political grandstanding. It certainly isn't about serving Calgarians.

We are here to do a job, let's get on with it.