Unanimous council approval for Ottawa's operating and capital budgets has local economic agencies breathing much easier than last year when the city's axe cut deep.
City council spent no time debating the numbers in the 2005 operating budget for the city's three economic agencies. The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) and the Ottawa Life Sciences Council (OLSC) even saw some new money put back into their budgets.
OCRI has been approved to receive $1.584 million for 2005, an increase of $74,000 from 2004 but still $252,000 less than what the agency received in 2003.
This year's funding will keep OCRI functioning at the same level of service it provided to the technology industry in 2004, according to president and CEO Jeffrey Dale.
Compared to the angst of almost losing more than 50 per cent of his budget last year, this year's budget process was much smoother for OCRI.
"I don't think you're going to find anybody that can compare this year to last year's process," said Mr. Dale. "Last year was a very difficult year that the city was facing. This year, while still having very significant fiscal challenges, the process was different. We were able to get into the discussions a lot earlier (and) we were able to work with city staff around the budget plan. All throughout the fall and into the beginning of this year we've been meeting with councillors to make sure that they were aware of what we were working on, some of the achievements that we have had over the last couple of years and talk to them about where they see it going in the future. We answered their questions before it got to the debate table."
Having had to layoff three employees after the 2004 budget, OLSC president and CEO Ken Lawless is glad he is receiving an additional $11,000 from 2004 for a total of $231,000.
"It helps but obviously there is an opportunity to look next year to realignment of the operating budgets," said Mr. Lawless, whose agency is still receiving $55,000 less than in 2003.
However, Mr. Lawless was much happier with how the entire budget process went this time around.
"I think that the budget process this year was a much better process from our part, in part because there was sufficient lead time to work with staff to look at budget options and to work with council (to) make sure that the initial recommendations contained in the budget were at least solid."
After a harrowing 2004 budget process that almost saw the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority shut down, a lot has changed for 2005. First, the organization is receiving $1 million from the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association to help the hoteliers use their destination marketing fee revenue to run campaigns to bring tourists to town. City hall topped off the hoteliers' money last week with a payout totaling $790,000. Of that total, $87,000 came out of the operating budget and the remainder from the capital budget.
Once again, the bulk of the funding to the tourism authority is categorized as one-time funding in the hope that progress will be made at Queen's Park to get special legislation pushed through so that city council can determine where and how to direct the funds from the destination marketing fee.
Tourism authority president Jacques Burelle was very pleased that his agency received the amount of funding he had requested from city hall and thought the budget process was a lot "saner" than last year.
"(It was) more respectful of people's needs," said Mr. Burelle. "We got what we felt we needed."
CAPITAL PROJECT REINSTATEMENT
OCRI and OLSC are both enthusiastic about the reinstatement of the capital projects budget of $1 million in the 2005 capital budget, funding that was sorely missed in 2004.
"That will be the seed money to start off the new ideas that I think will then form some ongoing activities in the future ... that will drive economic development activities and help us to get to that 100,000 technology employees," said Mr. Dale.
For Mr. Lawless, this issue was the most significant because it had been a real blow to the agencies to not have any seed money from the city in 2004 to support new projects. It is the city's initial seed money that the agencies use to leverage funds from the provincial and federal governments and the private sector, he said.
In addition to the $1 million, the city's economic development manager Michael Murr said $200,000 is also earmarked for the city's new public-private partnership office for upcoming strategic projects.
