CONSULTING COSTS
A closer look at consulting and contracted-service expenditures, why the work was commissioned and whether it produced clear, practical results.
MY POSITION
Professional advice can be valuable when the Village requires specialized knowledge that is not available internally. Consultants can assist with engineering, planning, legal matters, financial analysis and other technical work.
However, outside expertise should be used for a clearly defined purpose. Before approving a consulting or contracted-service expenditure, Council should understand why the work is needed, whether Village staff can complete it, what the final cost will be and how the resulting report or recommendation will be used.
Residents should also be able to see whether commissioned work produced a practical result. Reports that are repeatedly revised, duplicated, left unimplemented or used to support decisions already made provide questionable value for taxpayers.
As Mayor, I would require clearer scopes of work, transparent costs, measurable deliverables and public reporting on the results of major consulting assignments.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
The Village’s annual Statement of Financial Information identifies suppliers that received more than $25,000 during the year. It does not provide a separate total for all consulting and contracted professional services.
In 2025, payments listed to four firms associated with planning, engineering and development work totalled approximately $583,555:
• Urban Systems Ltd. — $461,674
• Bluerock Planning Inc. — $64,181
• 2B Developments Consultants & Associates — $30,058
• MPE Engineering Ltd. — $27,642
In 2024, payments to Urban Systems Ltd. and Bluerock Planning Inc. totalled approximately $506,441. In 2023, the Village reported paying Urban Systems Ltd. $174,374.
These figures should be interpreted carefully. A payment to an engineering, planning or development firm is not necessarily an unnecessary consulting expense. Some payments may relate to infrastructure, capital projects or other specialized work. The reports also omit suppliers receiving $25,000 or less.
However, the increase in payments to outside professional firms warrants a clearer public accounting of what work was commissioned, which projects the payments supported and what practical results taxpayers received
THE FULL COST OF EACH PROJECT IS DIFFICULT TO SEE
The Statement of Financial Information reports how much the Village paid each supplier during the year, but it generally does not divide those payments by project or explain the work completed.
For example, a single firm may provide engineering, planning or project-management services for several unrelated assignments. The annual payment total does not tell residents how much was spent on each assignment, whether the original budget was exceeded or whether the work is complete.
Costs can also be spread across several years and several suppliers. This makes it difficult to determine the full cost of initiatives such as the Official Community Plan, Main Street strategy, infrastructure planning and the North Radium housing project using the annual supplier list alone.
For major consulting assignments, Council should publish the approved budget, the firms retained, payments made to date, expected future costs and the final deliverables produced.
CONSULTING WORK SHOULD PRODUCE MEASURABLE VALUE
Hiring a consultant should begin with a clearly defined question and end with information that helps Council make a better decision.
Before approving an assignment, Council should receive a scope of work, a maximum budget, a list of expected deliverables and an explanation of how the work will be used. Significant changes to the scope or cost should return to Council for public approval.
When the work is complete, residents should be able to compare the original purpose with the result. Council should report whether the assignment was completed on budget, whether its recommendations were accepted and what action followed.
This approach would allow the Village to obtain specialized assistance when it is truly needed while giving taxpayers confidence that outside professional services are being managed carefully.