COMMUNITY CHARTER – ANNUAL MUNICIPAL REPORTING (2006)

The Community Charter (The Charter) requires all municipalities to develop an Annual Municipal Report (Report) that includes audited annual financial statements for the previous year. The Charter also requires that municipalities make their Report available for public inspection. This requirement is vital to allow the public and business community to view local government records and actions, and to keep municipal levels of government accountable.

However, the timing given to municipalities to produce their Reports is far too lengthy to allow for accurate and timely depictions of how municipalities are being operated. The present timeline given in The Charter for municipalities to make their Report available for public inspection is before June 30 of each year. That gives a municipality over half a year in which to operate before the audited results of their previous year’s work are held accountable to the public.

Generally, annual audits of municipalities are completed sometime in April, yet the financial statements are tabled with councils typically until June, at which point approval is given on consent.

The timeliness of the reporting is particularly inadequate considering the increase in power that municipalities have been given through the creation of The Charter. Businesses in BC are witnessing increased tax gap ratios between commercial and residential properties, and should be given an earlier opportunity to assess the results of their taxation.

The value of Annual Reports to the community is their ability to present an accurate and factual report on the previous year, as well as specifying the objectives and measures for the coming year. With this in mind it is vital that annual municipal reports be kept as fact-based documents free from statements that are not supportable by accurate data and fact.

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS

That the Provincial Government;

1. adjust the Community Charter, section 98, to command release of annual municipal reports by no later than April 30 in each year, in order for the reports to be relevant and timely, and

2. ensure that municipalities keep the annual municipal report timely and factual.