From the bottom to the top, the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) has come a long way in the span of four years.
More specifically, from a forensic audit after a spending and expenses scandal to winning an Excellence in Governance Award for local governments from across the province.
"This doesn't mean that we quit working and we pat ourselves on the back and say 'Oh well, we're done now.' No we keep working and we build on this," said Barbara Roden, chair of the TNRD and mayor of Ashcroft.
"But this is an awesome, awesome start," she said, as she spoke to Black Press Media in between meetings at the Union of BC Municipalities conference in Vancouver, where she had accepted the award.
Roden said the forensic audit four years ago had resulted in around 80 recommendations, which she said have all now been implemented. Since the audit, she said the TNRD has been working to rebuild the trust of taxpayers and area residents by being open and transparent.
Roden, TNRD board chair for the past two years, is proud of how far the district has come in their governance, but she is quick not to take the credit for herself.
"I'm just the lucky one who gets to go up there and accept [the award]," she said, noting it is staff who did the work. She said the recognition was based on the information the TNRD provided to taxpayers for where their tax dollars are going.
With 10 electoral area and 11 municipalities in the TNRD, using different services to different extents, each one requires a separate budget, making it quite complicated to clearly outline for people where their taxes go.
"So our staff came up with just these brilliant infographics," said Roden. The graphics show clearly for each of the 21 different budgets within the TNRD, how much the taxpayer is paying for different services.
She explained how the infographics are a really good tool for TNRD directors to respond to residents and taxpayers who want their taxes to go down, which she acknowledged we all would like to see.
"The electoral area director is able to say then: 'All right well, which of these services do you not want anymore then? Because that's how we can reduce your taxes.'" said Roden.
She highlighted the work of Carla Fox, chief financial officer for the TNRD, who came up with the numbers for the services and costs, and Colton Davies, communications and marketing manager for the TNRD, who came up with the idea of how to make the information digestible.
"It's hard enough to understand one budget, let alone 21 of them," acknowledged Roden.
"We wanted to make sure residents had this as a tool to help them understand what their tax bill actually means," she said.
