APRIL 2019 BCBUSINESS 13 ALBERT LAW
T
he City of Vancouver
stands out for many
reasons. Its temperate
weather. Its staggering natural
beauty. Its million-dollar house
prices. But one unique quality
is a head-scratcher: it's the only
large city in Canada without
its own independent •nancial
watchdog to report on the
e•ective and e•cient use of
municipal funds. If Vancouver
is the world-class metropolis
it claims, with annual revenue
as high as $1.9 billion in recent
years, why is its •nancial ac-
countability so provincial?
That may soon change as
city councillors, the public and
the provincial government •nd
themselves asking what local
accountability should look
like for B.C.'s cities and towns.
Whether it's the province's
•ve-year review of the nascent
o•ce of the auditor general
for local government, or Van-
couver city council approving
the •rst in-depth independent
•nancial assessment in a
decade, spending of tax dollars
faces scrutiny.
"I'm encouraged that in
other cities across Canada
there has been a watchdog
function built into local gov-
ernment, because we really
do need that," says Vancouver
Coun. Colleen Hardwick. "I am
concerned that there are insuf-
•cient checks and balances." In
mid-December, council passed
Hardwick's motion to appoint
an independent Oversight Com-
mission to conduct a baseline
review of the city's •nances.
Vancouver's •nancial equa-
tion has shifted dramatically
over the past decade, largely
thanks to revenue from real
estate developers. From 2009
to 2019, the city's operating
budget swelled from $923
million to $1.5 billion. That
60-percent increase took place
when the population was grow-
ing by about 1 percent a year.
A large portion of it came
from developers paying com-
munity amenity contributions
(
CACs), which the city collects
in exchange for rezoning to
help build community centres
Follow the Money
The missing ingredient in the City of Vancouver's operations?
Its own auditor general
by Anne Casselman
M U N IC I PA L F I NA NC E
(
the informer
)
O N
T H E
R ADA R
PUBLIC EYE
Major Canadian
cities with their own
auditor general:
Calgary
Halifax
Hamilton
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
Winnipeg
BOTTOM LINE
Coun. Colleen
Hardwick calls for
financial oversight
SOURCES: Accountability Officers
and Integrity in Canadian Municipal
Government, by Andrew Sancton,
Institute on Municipal Finance
& Governance, Munk School
of Global Affairs, University of
Toronto; City of Vancouver
$58
million
Community amenity
contributions
(CACs)
from real estate
developers to the City
of Vancouver in 2010
$331
million
CACs in 2017, almost
on par with the
$388 million col-
lected in residential
property taxes
1/6
Proportion of city's
revenue that came
from
CACs in 2017
