On Wednesday 28 January, HBRC will conduct a workshop on its 2026/27 Annual Plan.

That makes the Regional Council the first cab off the ranks in terms of 2026 meetings to decide how to spend ratepayer money.

If there was ANY message delivered by October local council elections, it was that many ratepayers are absolutely convinced that their rate dollars are excessive and/or wastefully spent.

Whether one shares that view or not, it would seem a no-brainer politically for HBRC and every council to bend over backwards to educate ratepayers transparently on where their money is going and why, and what the options are for prudently formulating and managing public money.

Historically, councils have defaulted to public-excluded workshops to do this ‘messy’ kind of business. After some confusion about a HBRC website posting indicating their budget workshop would be closed, I’ve been reassured that HBRC’s session will indeed be public.

Good news assuming that stands, setting a standard for HB’s other four councils. We’d welcome hearing from HB’s four mayors on this.

Generally, councils hide in workshops for dubious reasons (conceding there can be legitimate commercial or legal advice reasons on occasion): 

1) Councillors not wanting to appear clueless about the issues. The remedy for that is councillors doing their homework, and insisting that staff provide relevant information in advance. If either party — councillors or staff — is not up to the task, they should be replaced.

And/or …

2) Councillors’ fear of having to grapple with unpopular options in public. But it is the public that has demanded cost-cutting options, including staffing cuts/changes, and councillors actually stand to benefit from showing ratepayers exactly and transparently where those demands lead in terms of services provided, reduced, delayed or eliminated.

If we the public want lower rates, we need to ‘suck it up’ just as much as our elected officials. So we should be included every step of the way.

Back in October 2023, after an extensive review, the Ombudsman insisted that councils open their workshops ‘by default’. He noted: “Another reason put forward by councils for closing workshops was to provide elected members a ‘safe space’ to ask ‘silly questions’ out of the public eye. I do not accept this argument. Councillors are elected to public office, a position that demands accountability. They should be prepared for a level of scrutiny and even reasonable criticism from those they represent.”

As we reported here, when BayBuzz asked each HB council at the time how they would respond to his instruction, they responded collectively: “We support the “open by default” language and think that we could all definitely do more to pick up some of the best practice guidance given by the Ombudsman. [BayBuzz highlighting]

Now, in the present environment of rates caps and overall council-bashing, councils will only hurt themselves and further diminish public trust if they backtrack on openness and transparency.

BayBuzz will pressure and harass councillors at every opportunity to do the public’s business in public, even if it requires thumbscrews, especially when it comes to spending decisions. And we are not rates cappers! We believe in activist local government.

As other councils around the region begin their budget planning, we hope they will show strong commitment to transparency. At the very least, recorded votes should be taken to conduct any workshops in secrecy, and all materials prepared for these sessions should be made public.