City council has slammed the book on new Barrie Public Library capital spending.
Without public notice Wednesday evening, council passed a direct motion that until the library board’s new financial policy is in place, that board must seek council approval for any capital expenses not previously approved by council through the city’s annual budget process.
The motion cites the Municipal Act and the Public Libraries Act as the authority to take this action.
“This change ensures our spending aligns with strategic goals and commitment to transparency and accountability … (and) demonstrating our dedication to the practical use of public funds,” said Coun. Nigussie Nigussie, who sponsored the direct motion and sits on the library board, along with Coun. Amy Courser.
But the Ward 4 councillor questioned the need for Nigussie’s direct motion.
“I’m wondering about the urgency to bring this forward, because as I understand there’s no capital projects active at this time with the Barrie Public Library,” Courser said. “The Barrie Public Library needs a board motion to initiate any capital projects, which they have not and their last meeting for the year is next week and there’s nothing on the agenda to put forth anything for capital budget, a capital expense.
“Sitting on the board, there hasn’t been anything,” she added. “There is discussion of investigating something, but not to access any funding in regards to it.”
Coun. Gary Harvey, who seconded Nigussie’s direct motion and is chairman of the city’s finance and good governance committee, said the library’s budget has raised questions with him for the past few years.
“The budget that has been presented to (council) has been very much dumbed down and not as detailed as what it once was,” he said.
Harvey referenced the purchase a few years ago of new furniture for the Painswick branch, and said something similar could be happening again.
“So it is my understanding that at the most recent board meeting there were some discussions about further capital expenditures in relation to some further furniture purchases that was north of $1 million, and that was in public session, so I’m not speaking out of turn when I speak about that,” he said.
“Their reserve account is quite healthy. There’s a few million dollars there,” Harvey added. “If I didn’t have concerns about maybe what I would say … excessive spending in areas that don’t need to be happening, then I wouldn’t even be talking like this.”
And the Ward 7 councillor gave another example of his concerns.
“Even during the Holly (library branch) process, they were ordering high-end appliances for their staff room that I can’t even afford to put in my own house, so why would you put it in your staff room,” he said, “and that’s where I really have concerns with some of the decisions that get made.”
Craig Millar, Barrie’s chief financial officer, said the city contributed $9.3 million to library spending this year and that during the last five years the city has contributed an average of 92 to 93 per cent of the Barrie Public Library's annual budget.
“I have never seen reserves in this proportion ever in Ontario,” said Coun. Bryn Hamilton. “I do think there’s a lot of improvement that can be made here from a governance, financial oversight position.
“I don’t understand how a library can accumulate $2.6 million in reserves,” she said. “We’re over-funding them, year over year, in allowing them to accumulate this.”
Coun. Jim Harris has similar concerns.
“The fact that they’re accumulating a surplus, year in, year out, and asking for an increase in their budget every year that I have been on council, that money that our taxpayers are putting into the library … it feels like something seems to be amiss,” he said.
Mayor Alex Nuttall said he still has questions about the library finances.
“Where do you get your surplus, how do the dollars come in, what is it allocated for in the future, what is an unallocated surplus, what does it mean, how is it used, what are the financial regulations in place to manage it,” he said. “When a dollar is moved one way or another, we have to make sure that we just have those proper regulations in places that we can look folks in the eye and say we know.”
Courser’s amendment that the direct motion be referred to Harvey’s committee in September 2024 was only supported by Coun. Ann-Marie Kungl and it lost.
The direct motion passed by a vote of 9-2.
