Candidate for City Council Cari Penner wants better communication of the City of Steinbach’s financial status. She says citizens may find it difficult to understand the city’s many documents and reports and nearly impossible to comprehend the city’s lengthy financial plan. Penner notes that effective challenges to city hall can be difficult when relevant information appears complex.
“Complicated financial information did not help the recent discussion on debt and finances”, she says, noting that citizens cannot develop trust in government if they feel ill-informed. City Hall cannot be faulted for a lack of transparency as any documents are quickly available, she says, but it is difficult for many citizens to fully grasp the information in its financial plans and understand its financial condition.
She proposes a model to outline the city’s finances in a clear, more understandable fashion.
The dashboard model, she says, would be one way to illustrate the financial status of the city in a way more people could understand. Using easy to follow indicators, financial “gauges” could inform the public of the financial health of the city in an understandable format. Financial benchmarks set by the Municipal Board would serve as the point of reference for good fiscal government. “The more citizens understand the financial status of the city, the more accountable city government would be and the more empowered its citizens would become”, Cari Penner asserts.
“A prosperous, livable city like Steinbach is the result of many councils making good decisions over many years”, she says. “However, these financial decisions must be clearly presented to the public. City tax payers deserve to know how their tax dollars are being used.”
Cari Penner believes this model can be implemented within months of the next council’s mandate.
For more information contact Cari Penner at 326-1521.
