Unbalanced Books: How to Improve Toronto’s Fiscal Accountability

Colin Busby, Benjamin Dachis () and William Robson
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Colin Busby: C.D. Howe Institute

No 103, e-briefs from C.D. Howe Institute

Abstract: As Toronto gears up for a municipal election this fall, the city's poor record on fiscal accountability promises to be a central issue. As the sixth largest government in Canada, with a budget of over $11 billion annually, Toronto city hall should have its finances under better control. A 10-year comparison of planned spending changes announced in budgets with actual results reported after year-end reveals large deviations between planned and actual spending that are routine. To increase transparency and accountability, Toronto should consolidate its now separate capital and operating budgets, move to a uniform accounting basis for its budgets and year-end results, and provide multi-year budgets. City government should adhere more closely to the budgets Council votes every year.

Keywords: Governance and Public Institutions; Toronto; fiscal accountability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E62 H72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 6 pages
Date: 2010-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published on the C.D. Howe Institute website, August 2010

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