The C.D. Howe Institute has given the City of Surrey an ‘A’ in budget reporting, according to Holding Canada’s Cities to Account: An Assessment of Municipal Fiscal Management.
The report analyzed budget clarity in major cities across Canada and suggested that cities should create clearer, more consistent budgets in order to improve financial management.
The report added, “The picture is not uniformly bleak, however. Surrey, British Columbia, and Markham and London in Ontario, for example, currently present budgets and financial results so that elected representatives and taxpayers can easily understand the full costs of municipal spending promises.”
Surrey mayor Dianne Watts said, “We are committed to being open and accountable. It’s important that our budgets are organized and presented in an easy to understand manner so that residents, businesses and other organizations have a full understanding of our financial picture.”
In the report researchers found that Surrey was unique in having taken measures to report budgets on the same accounting basis as their year-end financial statements.
Councillor Tom Gill, chair of the finance committee, said, “We are pleased to once again be recognized for our commitment and effort to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to provide full disclosure in our financial statements.”
