‘Big picture’ budget sweeps details out of view

‘Big picture’ budget sweeps details out of view
A month after Sydney City’s Draft Corporate Plan was unanimously approved for public exhibition, almost half of Council are calling the document “vague”, “not transparent” and “a wank”.
The dissenting councillors say that costs are buried beneath Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision rhetoric, and that stakeholders cannot identify how ratepayers’ money will be spent.
Liberal Councillor Shayne Mallard said the document stirred up issues of transparency: “It’s what’s not in the report that usually gives them the ability to change things without us realising what’s going on.”
Instead of providing a traditional budget with line items, the document sweeps expenditures into large groupings. The document states that $65.8 million will be spent on “vibrant local communities and economies” with an additional $59 million attributed to unspecified capital works in 2009 to 2010.
As part of that objective, the City pledges to “encourage and support small businesses to operate in mainstreets through provision of grants, business development advice and economic information.” An additional $42.2 million is pledged to create “a globally competitive and innovative city.” But small business leaders say they still haven’t been shown the figures.
“We know that there’s some money allocated towards improving the local economy but without the detail that makes up this number its hard to comment on how we’re supportive of it and what aspects we’re supportive of,” said Brad Chan, president of the Haymarket chamber of commerce.
Andrew Duckmanton, president of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership said that he simply didn’t get it: “When you look at the concept of economic development, it all seems to be plied into ‘Brand Sydney’, though we don’t know what that means.
Greens Councillor Irene Doutney called the Summary of Income and Expenditure by Principal Activity – in which large costs are attributed to 2030 objectives, such as “Implementation through effective governance and partnerships” – “a wank”.
“Ultimately I think there’s a certain arrogance in putting out something that tells people stuff but doesn’t really give them the details,” she said.
“It’s like 2030 Vision is really sweeping, big brush strokes. You’ve got to climb through the tangle to get to the detail.”
Councillor Meredith Burgmann admitted that most of the document was unclear: “The line items just weren’t there. It just wasn’t detailed enough.”
Councillor Chris Harris acknowledged that to outsiders the ‘big picture’ document appeared vague, but said that it was “quiet a responsible budget.”
He defended it by saying it was impossible to budget clearly for projects that weren’t a certainty, exampling Council’s ambition to transform Prince Alfred Park Pool into a cogeneration facility and sell electricity to nearby homes and businesses: “We’ll want to sell electricity to people. What’s energy Australia going to say about that? So maybe that’s going to be a fight, I don’t know.
“Some things really uncertain about whether we can actually spend the money.”
A City of Sydney Spokesperson failed to respond by the time The City News went to press.