Port Coquitlam city council is taking measures to ensure it doesn't run over budget on a capital works project again.
This week, the city's finance committee voted to implement a new policy as a result of the Burns Road water main, which came in $365,000 over the initial cost.
The hefty price tag of $925,000 for the entire job prompted a few councillors to call for accountability from city managers.
Mayor Greg Moore said he, like many councillors, took heat from the community when the overruns were revealed at the Oct. 5 meeting.
Still, he said the new Budget Transfer Authority Financial Policy will allow for more transparency as council goes into budget deliberations early next year.
And any large variances will be highlighted rather than buried among the line items.
"At the end of the day, it's all about accountability so it's not shovelled off here, shovelled off there," said Coun. Dean Washington, chairperson of the city's budget and infrastructure committee.
According to a report from Kristen Meersman, PoCo's director of engineering and operations, who wore a Kevlar vest when she announced the $365,000 figure to council, steps are underway to ensure future public works are well-managed and within the guidelines.
The engineering department has been restructured to increase the focus on capital projects. Previously, it fell under the manager of projects, budgets and mapping portfolio while the other engineering manager handled only transportation issues.
Meersman said the latter position has expanded to the role of manager of infrastructure planning while the former is solely the manager of capital projects.
As well, new estimate classifications will be introduced for project budgeting, a new Agresso finance management system will be fully in place to replace the city's old accounting software and to track costs better and quarterly variance reports will be presented to council.
Further, council will be notified of any budget transfers between capital projects of more than $50,000 or 10%, Meersman said, and it will get reports when public works are complete.
"I'm still missing the idea of a 'gut check,'" Coun. Mike Forrest told the committee Monday. "It's not too difficult to know when things are going awry…. I don't want to get fouled with more bureaucracy."
Still, "this is how we can get better systemically," CAO John Leeburn countered, noting the new policy would concentrate on who's involved in projects and make the process more transparent.
Meanwhile, the finance committee has delayed its deliberations of the 2016 capital budget to January due to staffing shortages and the upcoming award of the new recreation centre tender.
Mayor Moore said a two-month setback in capital budget talks is preferable given the magnitude of the recreation centre rebuild. Bids for that project closed earlier this month.
Public input on the full 2016 budget is still scheduled for February with final budget approval slated for March, said finance director Karen Grommada.
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