Saanich residents deserve a Council that manages their money responsibly and is accountable for how it is spent. That means setting clear priorities, considering the full cost of municipal decisions, and ensuring residents can see what was promised, what was spent, and what was delivered.
Fiscal responsibility is about making thoughtful financial decisions. Financial accountability is about being transparent and delivering on those decisions. Both are essential to earning residents’ trust and making every taxpayer dollar count.
Fewer than half of Saanich residents believe they get good value for their taxes, and the only budget option that has earned real public support was holding services steady with a modest, managed increase. Too often, Council has approached finances from a purely ideological perspective. This has left necessary maintenance underfunded and new development over budget. Housing decisions have infrastructure costs; transportation decisions have lifecycle costs; environmental decisions have long-term community value, often mitigating future costs; and every one of them needs transparent prioritization.
Residents have a right to know that every tax dollar is spent with care, precision, and purpose. My work on the Burnside Road Streetscape project taught me that the real cost of municipal infrastructure isn’t what it takes to cut the ribbon it’s what it takes to implement, maintain, operate, and deliver value over the next twenty years.
My approach starts with the basics: core services and aging infrastructure come first, ahead of lower-priority, high-visibility projects. Every major spending decision should answer three questions: What problem are we solving? What will it cost to implement, operate, and maintain? How will we know whether it delivered the intended results?
Council needs to direct staff to identify efficiencies before asking taxpayers for more. When a tax increase is genuinely necessary, residents deserve a clear explanation of why it’s needed, what alternatives were considered, and what they will receive in return.
Growth must contribute to economic opportunity rather than quietly becoming a burden on businesses and communities. Fiscal planning, housing, transportation, and environmental stewardship cannot be treated as separate conversations. Their costs, benefits, and long-term impacts must be considered together.
Saanich needs to strengthen its economic and commercial tax base. That means setting measurable economic development goals, building partnerships that create opportunities for investment and employment, and understanding the conditions local businesses need to remain and grow here. A commercial business retention and expansion plan should identify barriers, track business outcomes, and assess whether municipal policies and investments are supporting a sustainable local economy.
Residents have raised concerns about declining transparency and accountability. Passing a budget is not the end of Council’s responsibility. Council must report back on what was promised, what was spent, and what was delivered and be accountable when outcomes fall short.
Every dollar Council spends belongs to someone who worked hard to earn it.
As a former business owner, information technology and management consultant, and Director of Local Government, I have spent my career working with organizations across Canada and the United States, including municipal and provincial governments, to improve systems, manage resources, simplify processes, and support better decisions. That experience gives me a practical understanding of how to manage resources, assess and mitigate risk, and deliver results.
Council is not simply deciding how much money to spend. It is responsible for deciding what to spend it on, when to spend it, what it will cost over its lifetime, how it will be funded, and whether residents are getting the results they were promised.
Saanich residents work hard for their money. They deserve a Council that treats every taxpayer dollar with the same care, discipline, and accountability they expect in managing their own household budgets.
Fiscal responsibility isn’t about saying yes to everything or about saying no to everything. It’s about setting clear priorities, making thoughtful decisions, and delivering lasting value.
Fiscal Responsibility → Cost Control → Understand Lifecycle Costs → Connect Growth to Economic Output → Diversify Revenue → Retain Existing Businesses → Measure Results → Financial Accountability.
My Fiscal Responsibility and Financial Accountability Priorities:
1. Spend on what matters most.
Prioritize core services and infrastructure that residents depend on every day; roads, water, sewer, drainage, public safety, parks and essential community services before taking on lower-priority projects or expanding commitments without a clear long-term plan.
2. Plan for the full cost not just the ribbon cutting.
Every major project should consider its complete lifecycle: capital cost, financing, maintenance, staffing, operating costs and future replacement. A project isn’t financially responsible simply because Council can find the money to build it.
3. Set priorities before raising taxes.
Property taxes should not be the automatic answer to every new pressure. Before asking residents to pay more, Council should demonstrate what has been prioritized, what has been deferred, what efficiencies have been found and as well as other funding opportunities that have been considered.
4. Deliver the basics before the extras.
Saanich has significant infrastructure renewal needs. We need a clear, transparent way to prioritize projects based on condition, safety, service needs, risk and community benefit not simply which project is easiest to advance or has the strongest political momentum. Saanich needs to focus on fiscally responsible execution, ensuring every project delivers its primary objective without absorbing excess capital in non-essential features.
5. Make municipal processes work better.
My professional experience in financial systems, land-use planning, permitting, licensing, asset management and municipal operations has shown me that better outcomes don’t always require more resources. Sometimes they require better coordination, clearer accountability and fewer bureaucratic bottlenecks. Good government should be responsive, efficient and measurable.
6. Put a value-for-money test on major decisions.
Before Council commits significant public funds, residents should be able to understand:
- What problem are we solving?
- Why is this the right solution?
- What alternatives were considered?
- What will it cost to implement?
- What will it cost to operate and maintain?
- How will it be funded?
- What are the risks?
- What measurable improvement will residents receive?
7. Be transparent about results.
Approval is not the end of accountability. Council should regularly measure major projects and programs against their original objectives, budgets, timelines, and expected community benefits. If something isn’t working, Council should be willing to change course and explain why.
8. Make growth contribute to Saanich’s financial future.
Saanich is growing. Growth can bring new homes, businesses, investment, and opportunities. However, it also creates demands for transportation, infrastructure, parks, recreation, public safety, and other services all of which come with costs.
We need to understand the long-term financial implications of growth and ensure infrastructure and services keep pace. Development decisions should consider not only how many homes or buildings can be added, but what those additions mean for municipal infrastructure, transportation networks, service delivery, and taxpayers over time.
9. Build a measurable economic development and business retention plan.
Saanich needs a tangible economic development plan with clear objectives, timelines, and measurable outcomes for business investment, employment, commercial occupancy, business retention, and growth of the municipal tax base.
That means building partnerships with local businesses, institutions, regional organizations, and other levels of government to identify opportunities for investment, economic activity, and revenue diversification.
Supporting the businesses already here is just as important as attracting new ones. A commercial business retention and expansion plan should identify why businesses stay, grow, or leave; address barriers within municipal control; and track whether policies and investments are contributing to a sustainable local economy.
Council should regularly review results, assess the return on economic development investments, and identify opportunities to strengthen Saanich’s revenue base and reduce reliance on property taxes.
10. Government should work for the people who pay for it.
My approach to fiscal responsibility is grounded in both professional experience and more than two decades of community advocacy. I’ve worked inside organizations where decisions must be translated into systems, budgets, projects and services that work. I’ve also worked directly with Saanich residents, community associations, municipal staff, elected officials and other levels of government advocating for cost-effective improvements. That combination matters.
11. Residents don’t need Council to simply approve budgets. They need Council to ask the hard questions:
- Where can we do better?
- What are we getting for our investment?
- Are we solving the problem or simply managing the symptom?
- Can we deliver the same result more efficiently?
- What will this decision cost five, ten, or twenty years from now?
- Are we measuring whether our economic development efforts are delivering results?
- Are we being transparent about what was promised, what was spent, and what was achieved?
That is the level of accountability I will bring to Council. Fiscal responsibility is ultimately about protecting what matters: the services residents rely on, the long-term financial health of our community, and preventing future generations from inheriting the consequences of decisions made without understanding their full cost.
12. Every dollar Council spends belongs to the residents of Saanich.
I will bring business experience, municipal knowledge, community perspective, and practical accountability to every financial decision.
Saanich deserves a Council that spends responsibly AND delivers responsibly.
Make Every Taxpayer Dollar Count
Protecting What Matters.