A New West councillor doesn’t think staff’s names should be listed in the annual statement of financial information report.
B.C. municipalities must prepare a statement of financial information report each year. It includes several reports, including council remuneration, suppliers of goods to the City of New Westminster, audited financial statements, and severance agreements (there was one in 2023).
One of the documents in the SOFI report lists remuneration and expenses for employees earning $75,000 or more.
At its June 24 meeting, council unanimously approved the statement of financial information for 2023.
“I'd really like to see how we can advocate so that we have the positions rather than the individual names listed,” said Coun. Ruby Campbell. “It's something that I think is really important to be mindful and really protective of staff's personal (information).”
While Campbell believes that transparency is important, she would like to see if there is a way of listing staffing positions, rather than names, in the SOFI report.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine had questions about another document in the SOFI report – the one that lists council remuneration and expenses.
Fontaine noted that former councillor Chuck Puchmayr received a transition allowance in 2022, while former mayor Jonathan Cote and councillors Mary Trentadue and Chinu Das received their separation allowances in 2023. He questioned why council members who left office at the same time received their transition allowances in different years.
“I don't have the details as far as when the payments happened in 2023 or 2022,” said Shezad Somji, the city’s finance director. “The payments are handled by the payroll department which falls under HR. We can certainly look into that and provide some further clarification to council.”
Fontaine said he would appreciate getting a response back from staff, saying it seems “like an oddity” for one elected official to get paid in one calendar year and others to be paid in another calendar year. He also thanked staff for producing the SOFI document.
“If the public hasn't read it, it covers off a lot of fine detail in terms of where every dollar is spent in the city. And there are the audited financial statements contained within that report, as well as a full breakdown of all the financial information contained and operated here throughout the city,” he said. “So, while it may be a bit dry to read, it is definitely an important document.”
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said the audited financial statements show that the city is "in pretty good shape" financially.
“Overall, it shows we are in fairly good shape for a city that's doing a lot of asset management, a lot of building new infrastructure right now,” he said. “I just want to thank staff for the good report, for doing a really good job of managing our finances this year. We've got a bit of a new investing strategy, which is really showing returns to the city. So, I really appreciate what staff have done.”
