City budget a year-round affair

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The annual presentation of the Ville de Québec budget involves the preparation of reams of documentation covering every detail of expenses and revenue, down to the last penny.

Although the budget is delivered on one day in December, followed by several days of detailed examination by council members, the preparation of the budget is a year-round affair.

“We’re going to start the next one in January,” Anne Mainguy, the city’s treasurer and director of finance, told the QCT in an interview following Mayor Bruno March- and’s budget presentation on Dec. 4 (see detailed story in this edition).

Budget 2025 is Mainguy’s second budget as the city’s top financial officer, although she has contributed to the previous five as a finance department employee.

“It’s a great job. All the units [at City Hall] contribute to the budget; it starts with them,” Mainguy said. “We give them the guidelines and they work to make them fit with what we are looking for.”

Mainguy, a chartered accountant who heads a 100-employee finance depart- ment, said, “Each year has its challenges, but we’re always proud of what we deliver.”