{"id":2593,"date":"2013-06-14T23:08:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T03:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2013-06-20T12:56:18","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T16:56:18","slug":"politics-as-usual-triple-bottom-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-triple-bottom-line\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Triple Bottom Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

The protection and enhancement of the Town\u2019s municipal assets is one of the most important functions of the Municipal government.
\nWe, as residents, look to our elected leaders to ensure that our Town has the infrastructure we need to have a healthy local economy and a good quality of life \u2013 present and future.
\nThe annual budget process is a prime example of this function in action. Council debates which assets need replacement, repair or removal through sale (or demolition as the case may be). Council can consider adding to our assets through the creation of new buildings or amenities like skateboard parks, for example, if the funds are available or prudent past planning has afforded them the opportunity to dip into a reserve to create a new asset.
\nYes, the budget process is a mind numbingly boring process, but a vitally important one that few municipal governments get right and even fewer people pay attention to \u2013 until they get their tax bill, of course.
\nDespite the occasional detour into la la land (the camel climber debacle comes to mind), the outcome of Council\u2019s deliberations is usually a common sense approach to the protection of our known assets. Our roads, bridges, sewers, buildings, and artifacts \u2013 the tangibles of what makes up our Town and for which our Council is responsible, on our behalf.
\nBut what about the intangibles? And by intangible I mean in the measurement sense, not the physical sense. There are other kinds of assets that aren\u2019t currently itemized in the town\u2019s Capital Asset Management Plan; that have not, in the past, been accounted for in any kind of meaningful way.
\nTwo areas that often get short shrift in asset considerations are human (or social) capital and natural capital. Both of which are extremely important asset groups but are rarely, if ever, considered in financial decision-making processes \u2013 for one simple reason \u2013 they are difficult to quantify.
\nSocial capital in particular is difficult to assess as it speaks to the \u201cglue that holds a community together\u201d, the social and community relationships that are vital for community health. It is difficult to conceptualize, let alone measure.
\nBut natural assets are a different story. You can argue about what constitutes a \u201cnatural\u201d capital asset, but regardless, they are there, visible and ready to be counted. The problem, of course, is how to assign a monetary value to those assets. Aurora, along with most municipalities, had not undertaken the complex task of attempting to catalogue, quantify and put a value to its natural capital assets \u2013 until now.
\nI am very pleased to say that Aurora has taken a firm step towards putting sustainability principles into practice. At the recent General Committee meeting, staff tabled a report titled, \u201cTown of Aurora \u2013 The Economic Value of Natural Capital Assets.\u201d
\nWithin the report is a \u201cbaseline of the natural features within Aurora\u201d and then an attempt to put value on those natural assets. A great step towards the protection of our valuable natural assets.
\nThe report is also an excellent starting point, a foundation for the incorporation of triple bottom line analysis in sound municipal planning. As noted, \u201cthere is growing consensus that all corporations should factor in the benefit of natural capital within the overall economic health of the corporation\u201d. That idea came out of the work of the Brundtland Commission of almost 30 years ago, through the concept of Sustainable Development. It\u2019s taken a long time for the concepts to move from mere buzz words to implementation, but better late than never, eh?
\nNow, councils of the future will be able to consider more than just the \u201cbest price\u201d for something. They will now have at the ready, a comprehensive list of our natural assets along with their value and therefore be able to include the cost of or impact to those assets as a result of the decision they are about to make.
\nNot quite triple bottom -line analysis \u2013 but it\u2019s certainly more than the lip service that most municipalities pay to the concepts of sustainability and the application of same to municipal decision making.
\nI chastised Council in my column last week \u2013 gently I might add \u2013 for not adopting Councillor Thompson\u2019s motion to record all meetings of council \u2013 including closed sessions. To me, this demonstrated a failure to be leaders in transparency and accountability of council deliberations. Well this week I can take that back and say that by supporting this initiative, this council, these members are leaders in sustainability and thus are forward thinking, positive agents for change.
\n That\u2019s it for this week. Until next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is, after all, Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas The protection and enhancement of the Town\u2019s municipal assets is one of the most important functions of the Municipal government. We, as residents, look to our elected leaders to ensure that our Town has the infrastructure we need to have a healthy local economy and a good quality of life \u2013 present […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-FP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 21:58:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}