Calgary councillor calls for city to post all spending over $10K as province eyes restraint

Coun. Jeromy Farkas is calling for city hall to be more transparent about its spending.

The Ward 11 representative plans to present a notice of motion next week to have administration use what's known as a "blue book standard," which is already in use at the provincial level. It provides an online account of tax-dollar spending by the city.

Farkas says the proposal, also backed by Coun. Sean Chu, is in response to this week's report from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta's Finances.

"Given the panel's recommendations have tied future funding arrangements to increased accountability, I think we are going to need to hit the ground running on increased accountability if we are going to make a strong case for continued and sustainable funding," he said.

The monitoring system would see all expenditures at city hall over $10,000 made public and easily searchable.

"This measure of accountability is essential if we are going to continue to ask for provincial support for priorities such as flood mitigation and policing," the councillor's office said in a release.