Reforms are coming, but until then ward fund spending will continue

For an issue that has occupied hours and hours of debate at city council, a request for funding under the city's ward fund policy passed without a word on Tuesday.

The request from Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann for $7,000 in Health Community Initiative funding was approved, even though Mayor Brian Bigger intervened when she made a previous HCI request.

Bigger wanted the money taken from another city fund, to give him time while he worked to reform the policy. But on Tuesday, he said he expected more funding requests would come forward for approval before changes are in place.

"Yes, absolutely,” Bigger said. “You can see they are very legitimate requests. I've always been supportive of ensuring that community groups, who are so engaged in the community and putting in so much volunteering time, for the some of these strong causes that need this funding. There was no intention to delay the funding to these groups."

Everyone knows changes to HCI is coming, the mayor said, but in the meantime it will operate under the existing rules, which allow individual councillors to make spending decisions for smaller projects, although larger requests have to be approved by council.

"I've asked staff to bring forward a report as to grants, subsidies, funding, in-kind support," he said. "That report will come back at a later point in time. But I'm waiting for staff to come back with that report."

Landry-Altmann said she supports plans to “tweak” the ward fund policy, but until then, groups in her ward and in other wards across the city are still looking for support.

"It's well documented that some councillors don't approve of the policy, and I respect that,” she said. “Obviously, we need to tweak it and we all agree on that ... But for the time being, the policy is in place. And until it is changed, the policy is in place."

The funds total $600,000 a year and are split evenly among Greater Sudbury's 12 wards. They're aimed at supporting neighbourhood projects and groups.

They became controversial because, at one time, the money could be spent on almost anything, and individual ward councillors made the spending decisions. That led to some questionable spending, such as one councillor who bought computers for students at the school where he worked.

However, the rules surrounding the ward funds were tightened after an audit in 2012 by Bigger, who was the auditor general at the time. However, the former city council rejected a key recommendation from the audit: that councillors surrender spending authority to city staff.

An attempt to reform the system failed in April, mainly because of the way a motion on the issue was worded. A first option – to return spending control to staff – was defeated because some councillors wanted no changes, while others wanted the funds abolished. The vote on the final option – to get rid of the ward funds entirely – ended in a 6-6 vote, meaning it was defeated.

Bigger vowed to find a way to bring the issue back to council, and Landry-Altmann again stressed Tuesday she was open to changes.

"Let's talk about it, let's come up with whatever we need to come up with to make it even more transparent," Landry-Altmann said. "Whenever it comes up, I'm looking forward to a really good discussion on it."