A new publication from the Frontier Center for Public Policy;
* The 2008 Local Government Index is the second edition of this Frontier project. It presents and compares financial statistics for Canada’s 79 most populous municipalities that publish financial statements in English for the 2006 and 2007 financial years. All figures are normalized on a per-household basis so that cities of different sizes can be compared.
* It analyses regional averages for revenue, expenditure, financial position, and standards of accounting disclosure. The regions are defined as British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Montreal (alone), and the Maritimes.
* For each city, a one page report presents the specific statistics for that city as a proportion of the average for its region.
* Of the numerous statistics that emerge, the Index finds that the average Canadian municipality carries $1,538 dollars of debt per household, controls approximately $15,000 worth of capital assets, raises $1,937 in taxes and $4,869 in total revenue and spends $4,557 each year.
Good post Kate. I don’t know much about FCPP but from what I have seen they are one of the more impressive organizations in this country. Reviewing their staff and board, they appear to be comprised of “severely normal” Canadians; I find little evidence of corporate whoredom.
I like local politics because the buck stops there. Feds can download to provinces, provinces can download to cities, but cities have to deal with what they are dealt. I suspect that annual property tax hikes several times higher than inflation, as is the case here in Ontario, do more to elect Conservatives federally than one might think. For all the talk of Ottawa being statism central, they elected a very right wing mayor, Libel Suit Larry, due in no small part to chronic property tax hikes in which services are cut just to keep the hike below 5%.
Somebody should tell these bozo’s that Newfoundland isn’t a part of the Maritimes.
I’ll give the New Zealander some slack but the other fella is from Saskatchewan so he should know better.
Here I thought poor geographical knowledge only something one encountered south of the border.
PAGE 12 of the Report: “However, municipalities in Saskatchewan and Ontario have not reported the value of their capital assets despite this being a Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) mandate for the coming fiscal year.”
Only the two largest cities of Saskatchewan’s 800 or so municipalities are included in the report, and one can assume that those cities have at least adequate accounting resources.
What about the other 800 municipalities that don’t keep track of their capital assets? How do they forecast their capital expenses? Or do they simply bumble from year to year without a capital plan?
Glasnot,
I am going to take a wager on the second option. All in.
OK, I’ll be the first to say it.
“Get someone who reads French so you can do a proper report.”
“municipalities that publish financial statements in English” my ass.