Cover Story |
|||
In a report released in February, AMCTO tackles a key issue that has plagued local governments in Ontario for years. The report, titled Bearing the Burden: An Overview of Municipal Reporting to the Province, attempts to capture how much municipal time, resources and effort are put toward the creation and maintenance of various mandatory provincial reports.“ We’ ve heard for years from those working in the sector that it’ s a problem,” said Rick Johal, AMCTO’ s director of member and sector relations.“ Many state that they don’ t know where the reports go and what value they hold, and they are concerned that reporting takes them away from the core services they have to deliver.”
In its 2016 pre-budget submission to the Ontario government, AMCTO articulated the so-called reporting burden as a key policy priority for the coming year.
Although the general consensus was that provincial reporting was a
|
significant financial and productivity drain on its members, AMCTO realized that further research was needed to better understand and articulate the issue.
In May 2016, the association hired policy researcher Devan Lobo to explore the topic. Lobo carried out in-depth consultations with 29 local government professionals representing six municipalities of varying sizes. These qualitative data were supplemented by a sector-wide survey which received over 300 responses. Respondents represented a wide crosssegment of Ontario’ s municipal sector, including a variety of population sizes, tiers, years of employment in the sector, and provincial regions.
The research concluded in September 2015. The draft report was shared with the provincial government to corroborate data and obtain initial feedback.
One thing was abundantly clear. The majority of municipal professionals surveyed believed reporting
|
is an important component of intergovernmental relations; however, the cumulative reporting process is onerous and excessive.
“ Very few complained about the value or need to do reporting, they just struggle in seeing the utility of it,” explained Johal.“ Part of the problem is that reporting is done pretty much ad hoc between different ministries and branches within government and data submitted often goes into what many believe is a‘ reporting black hole’.”
The types of reports vary depending on the city, with upper-tier regional governments preparing the bulk of the reports on social and human services. Examples of lower-tier municipal reports include financial matters, water and wastewater, and cemeteries. Municipalities of all sizes must complete a financial information return.
Part of the problem is that a master list of the reports municipalities must produce for the province has never been created. Since there is no coordinated system to organize the
|
RaStudio / bigstockphoto. com |