A new trend is emerging as London's public bodies, boards and commissions scramble for money and London councilors set tax rates for 2024.
Some people are running marketing campaigns to get your support as they lobby for public funding.
A case in point is new posters on London Transport buses asking customers to support bids for more funding. It read: “No improvements. No new services. More congestion. Longer wait times… No investment. Tell your councilors to support transit growth now!”
These have a QR code that leads to a webpage containing the warning that “Transportation improvements are at risk.”
It is the use of public property to lobby for additional public funds. But they're not the only ones in the marketing game.
“The commission's proposed four-year budget is our plan to deliver a safer city,” Ali Charber, chairman of the London Police Service Commission, said at a press conference on Wednesday. “A safer city than ever” is a slogan LPS has used in its messaging and the board has repeated during public activities to garner support for its budget request.
Gord Hume, a local government expert and former Mayor of the City of London and former chairman of the London Police Service Board, says such campaigns are not entirely inappropriate. Hume says that while this type of marketing may seem unusual for public agencies, today they need every tool at their disposal to break through the barrage of information.
“They're in a competitive situation,” Hume explained. “They're trying to make a reasonable case to improve their services. When they reach out to their audiences and the public, that's what they do, and they do it efficiently and effectively, and a little bit. “You want to do it with a bit of effort, a little bit of flair,” he said.
The London Police Service Commission is seeking $672 million in its 2024 budget. Transport for London is requesting $42 million to improve services.
London City Councilor Sam Trosseau says the new trend speaks to the fierce competition for limited public funds.
“I would really like to go back to our strategic plan and remember that we are focusing on different areas,” Trosseau said. “And once this budget is done, we want to make sure that we distribute the wealth that is in this city. I don't see that happening right now, and I don't think that's happening right now, and there are some very divisive issues going on. “It looks like there is,” he said.
London ratepayers may be digging deeper no matter what. Currently, the budget increase rate is only 8.6%. And the mayor warns there isn't much room for maneuver.
Mayor Josh Morgan explained, “The police budget is one of the other tools the police commission has, and it shouldn't be given the full amount.” “The health department, land ambulance, conservation authorities and police all have mechanisms at their disposal that they simply charge us with.”
Parliamentary budget deliberations will resume on Thursday.
