LATE DISTRIBUTION
FOR COUNCIL DECEMBER 10, 1996
RR1(ii)
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: December 3, 1996
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Finance
SUBJECT: City Choices: Public Process for 1997 Operating Budget
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the components of the public
process related to the 1997 Operating Budget as
detailed in this report, at an estimated total cost of
$80,000; source of funds to be the 1996 Operating
Budget (Strategic Initiatives Fund).
B. THAT Council approve retaining the Angus Reid Group at
an estimated cost of $40,000 to carry out the public
opinion polling and focus group work as detailed in
this report; source of funds to be the $80,000 noted in
Recommendation A.
GENERAL MANAGER S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS
approval of A and B.
COUNCIL POLICY
At the December 2, 1996 Inaugural Council meeting, Mayor Owen
indicated Council s intention to fully involve the community in
determining how the City should manage the cuts in funding from
the Province.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to advise Council of the proposed
public information and consultation process to be utilized in
developing the 1997 Operating Budget, and to seek approval for
hiring a consultant to assist with this process.
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BACKGROUND
The City faces some difficult choices in developing the 1997
Operating Budget. Projections indicate that Council will be
faced with the choice of approving a significant tax increase to
maintain current service levels or of finding ways of reducing
expenditures in order to maintain the property tax increase to
inflationary levels. The need to make these choices arises
because:
structural changes in several sources of revenue will reduce
income in 1997 while inflation and new program costs continue
to increase expenditures
regional sewerage costs continue to increase at rates which
exceed inflation
provincial transfer payments in 1997 will decline as a result
of the elimination of support programs for municipalities
The expected impact of these factors is a funding shortfall in
the 1997 Operating Budget which approaches $26 million,
equivalent to an 8% tax increase. The most significant component
of this shortfall arises because of the reduction of $17.2
million in transfer payments from the Province.
At its inaugural meeting, the Mayor indicated that Council will
seek to fully involve the public in making these choices. This
report sets out the proposed process for informing the public and
gathering feedback about preferences for tax increases and/or
spending cuts.
PROPOSED PROCESS
The public information process proposed for the 1997 Operating
Budget has four key components.
1. Focus Groups
If the public is to be involved in making these decisions, it
will be necessary to establish how the information about the
choices should be put to them, what the perceived trade-offs are
and what choices they are prepared to make. The proposal is to
use a series of focus groups to gather this initial input that
will then guide the next steps in the consultation process.
The focus groups will concentrate on four areas:
understanding and views of the current fiscal situation
discussion of the trade-offs
discussion of proposed options
˜ testing of messaging and substance for the public information
flyer (next step in the process)
We anticipate running up to 6 focus groups including 2 targetted
at the City s major ethnic groups.
2. Public Information Flyer
A four page informational flyer will be developed by staff with
the assistance of a consultant. It will build on the information
gathered from the focus groups to explain the situation to
residents, lay out a number of proposed options for addressing
the challenges ahead, and provide an opportunity for feedback
through a questionnaire.
This flyer will be delivered through the community papers,
including those in the Chinese community, during the first week
of January, and will also be available through libraries,
community centres and other City facilities.
Other avenues will also be set up for the public to access this
information and to convey their views to Council. As we did with
the Capital Plan, information will be made available through the
Internet Home Page and through the FAXBACK system. People will
also be able to request information or to pass on their comments
through e-mail (citychoices@city.vancouver.bc.ca) and a Voice
Mail contact line (873-7526).
3. Public Opinion Survey
Following the distribution of the flyer, a telephone survey will
be conducted by a professional polling firm. The survey results
will be used to measure in an objective way the extent to which
specific views and perceptions of spending priorities, service
trade-offs, and budgeting options are prevalent among City
residents.
The survey will be approximately 15 minutes in length, with a
sample size large enough to be statistically valid. The questions
will be designed using the focus group results, and will be
similar to questions used in the flyer.
Unlike the flyer, respondents to the telephone survey will be
selected at random. The sample will be geographically
representative. The survey will be available in the major
languages representative of the community.
4. Speakers Bureau / Public Meetings
The impacts of the choice that will need to be made extend to a
broad range of constituencies within the community. All of these
constituencies need the opportunity to understand the issues so
that they can participate in the consultation process.
Staff propose establishing a speakers bureau comprised of
senior staff who will be available to community groups and others
interested in becoming informed about the issues. Council members
might also be involved in this process. The intent of these
presentations will be to provide information about the
difficulties faced by the City and the range of solutions
available to Council to address them.
It is also anticipated that Council will hold special Council
sessions to hear representation from the public. The number and
timing of these meetings will be arranged following the public
information phase of the process.
TIMING AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The total cost of the public information and consultation process
is estimated at $80,000. Adequate funds are available in the
1996 Operating Budget (Strategic Initiatives Fund). The cost
breakdown and expected timing are as follows:
Step Cost Timing
Focus Groups $25,000 Dec. 9-10
Public Information Flyer $25,000 Jan. 5-8
Public Opinion Survey $25,000 Jan. 10-27
FAXBACK, Internet, nominal throughout January
Speakers Bureau
Public Meetings, $5,000 throughout December
Advertising, Contingency and January
CONSULTANT
While staff will provide most of the resource to complete this
work, it is important that an unbiased third party be used to
establish an objective view of the public opinion received. It
is therefore recommended that the Angus Reid Group be retained to
conduct the focus groups and the public opinion survey.
The Reid Group was chosen because the company has the expertise
to carry out this type of work, a proven track record in this
area, and recent experience with the subject matter. The Terms
of Reference for the Angus Reid Group are attached as Appendix A.
CONCLUSION
Council faces some hard choices about possible spending cuts or
tax rate increases for the 1997 Operating Budget. The objective
of the public process detailed in this report is to ensure that
the community understands the issues, and has the opportunity to
get involved in making the choices for the coming year. The cost
of the proposed program is estimated at $75,000.
* * * * *
APPENDIX A
TERMS OF REFERENCE:
CONSULTANT FOR CITY CHOICES PROGRAM
The City is facing large funding cuts from the Province as well
as other budgetary pressures which will all impact on the 1997
Operating Budget. As a result, Council is faced with choices
about possible tax increases and/or service reductions, and would
like to involve the community in making these choices. To
facilitate this involvement, a public information and
consultation process has been developed City Choices.
A professional survey consultant is required to assist Council in
carrying out some parts of the City Choices Program. The tasks
required are set out in the following terms of reference.
A. FOCUS GROUPS
The consultant will conduct six focus groups to help determine
people s level of understanding and perceptions toward taxation
and budgeting, and to uncover what information the public needs
in order to make choices about tax increases and/or spending
reductions. These groups will include representation from the
major ethnic groups in the City. This information will be used
in designing the information flyer and the questionnaire for the
survey.
The consultant will design the format of the focus groups,
recruit the participants, moderate the groups, and provide both a
verbal and written report of the findings.
Work to be completed: January 8, 1997
B. SURVEY
A scientific, representative public opinion survey is needed to
provide Council with a baseline picture of the general
community s views.
The consultant will design a 15 minute questionnaire using
findings from the focus group sessions. The survey will sample
1,000 randomly-selected respondents who will be drawn
proportionally from five areas of the City (the Downtown/West
End, and the remainder of the City divided into four quadrants
with 16th Avenue as the north/south border and Main Street as the
east/west border).
The consultant will also ensure that the respondents will be
representative of the community by age, gender and renter/owner
status. In addition, the consultant will translate the
questionnaire into Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi to encourage
members of these communities to participate.
The consultant will prepare top-line results of the findings, as
well as a final written report explaining the full results. The
consultant will present the results to Council.
Top Line Results to be completed: January 17, 1997
Final Report to be completed: January 24, 1997