Groups looking for outside funding from city council will now have to submit their requests in writing before budget deliberations begin.
Council endorsed a new policy Monday night that governs how outside agencies such as the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI) and the St. Albert Senior Citizens’ Club must ask for funding from council. The policy calls on outside agencies seeking funding to submit business cases, just like the city’s internal departments, to the city manager, who will study them before passing them on to the community services advisory board (CSAB).
Agencies will then make presentations to the CSAB, which will rank each business case in terms of priority, then recommend or not recommend to council which should be accepted, along with recommending a dollar amount.
Those funds to be disbursed will come from a new funding allowance, which will equal the previous year’s total funding distributed to all outside agencies, less the aggregate amount of existing agency financial commitments. In the event the recommended funding totals more than the funding allowance, council would have to be consulted.
“It sticks to the same form for everyone,” said Coun. Cathy Heron, who worked with CSAB on the policy. “It’s similar to what any internal city department has to submit.”
The CSAB is asking for a one-year trial, with a review after the first budget cycle coming up. It originally asked council to exclude NABI and the St. Albert Housing Society due to their lack of experience with both groups, but council inserted both into the policy. The only groups that will not submit cases to the CSAB are the St. Albert Public Library, which is governed under the Municipal Government Act, and the Arts and Heritage Foundation, which has a stewardship agreement with the city.
“It’s probably the right thing to do,” said NABI managing director Dar Schwanbeck. “There will be consistency in how the agencies approach the city and I think from our perspective, I mean, we’ve had great city support over the years.”
The policy also allows for multi-year funding requests, which council has not approved in previous budgets but agencies have started asking for the option. The CSAB can recommend subsequent years of funding, but cannot factor inflation into the total.
“It helps us with our planning and it helps with agencies so they can be guaranteed some funding,” Heron said. “As a city, I would like the province to guarantee some long-term funding.”
The only point on which council debated, besides adding NABI and the housing society into the policy, was whether or not the CSAB should recommend dollar amounts, which was a part of the draft policy. Heron moved to have that part removed, stating she doesn’t believe the board should get involved in dollar figures.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for CSAB to recommend a dollar figure,” Heron said at Monday’s meeting. “That’s not their job, it’s our job.”
Her amendment was subsequently voted down.
“To me, for the CSAB to provide value within their mandate, it has to be given the authority to recommend an amount,” said Coun. Malcolm Parker, who sits on the board as council’s representative.
