Often asked by residents of the Crowsnest Pass why are my Taxes so high? (sure I will be asked a lot more in the next few days tax notices go out today)
Starting today I am going to let you know some places where you dollars go, you are welcome to agree or disagree with the service provided but understand at the end of the day it's simple math if we are going to spend the money then we must bring it in. If you have an opinion on any of the issues I bring up, express your thoughts to the people that make the decisions.
Spring/Fall cleanup
Late last year I contacted close to a hundred communities to see what they do for a spring/fall cleanup. I received responses from twenty six communities of those that provided me financial information the highest cost community was Lacombe which spent a whooping $51,000 on cleanup which worked out to $10.54 per dwelling. In the Crowsnest we spent a incredible $231,731 or $77.14 per dwelling. The other issue that politicians loose focus of is we had our employees spend 4621 man hours picking up garbage, time that could of being spent doing other municipal work in comparison Lacombe spent 896 man hours.
Other communities that reported costs were:
Brooks 832 man hours $30000 $5.94 per dwelling
Devon $8000 $3.42 per dwelling
Wainwright 640 man hours $18000 $7.79 per dwelling
Lacombe 896 man hours $51000 $10.54 per dwelling
High Prairie 400 man hours $15000 $13.59 per dwelling
Coaldale 360 man hours $27000 $11.80 per dwelling
Sylvan Lake $1200 $0.28 per dwelling
Pincher Creek 720 man hours $24000 $15.96 per dwelling
Drumheller 648 man hours $25000 $7.71 per dwelling
Crowsnest Pass 4621 man hours $231731 $77.14 per dwelling
Canmore 720 man hours $20000 $3.04 per dwelling
Rocky Mtn House 256 man hours $9600 $3.53 per dwelling
Cochrane 400 man hours $14000 $2.82 per dwelling
Now this year we have made a step in the right direction the plan is to limit the cleanup to six weeks three in Spring and three in Fall. We have also reduced the types of material that will be picked up. Assuming that we have twelve employees working on the clean up we will still invest 2880 man hours and assuming we pick up sixty percent of the volume we did last year. The cost will still be in the range of $140000 or $46.60 per dwelling.
The questions are do you want this service? are you prepared to pay for it?
4 comments:
(Edited from the first comment for grammar) Dean those numbers are pretty staggering. My question is less of "do I want this service? and whether I want to pay for it?", and more "why does it cost so much?" I do believe whole heartedly in Spring/Fall cleanup. Having our hands tied to enforce (or have) any kind of unsightly premise bylaw combined with the distance to our municipal dump will probably encourage residents to stockpile their garbage around their properties ultimately affecting the aesthetics of the area. I personally think it is a necessary service here. At least we can encourage clean up and I think that the amount of crap that leaves our town annually is a good thing. I was able to remove 80 years of debris from my house in Bellevue when I bought it thanks to the spring/fall clean up. My neighborhood is definitely a better place as a result. My question is that I wonder how well the cleanup is being managed. Are we organizing the cleanup using the trucks and our municipal workers time efficiently, or are we paying 4 workers to sit in a truck for most of the day commuting their small loads to Cowley? There must be some reason for the obscene amount of money spent. Do you have any insight as to why our cost is so high? Your research into this issue is greatly appreciated.
As I stated in an earlier post of yours (Property Taxes in the Crowsnest Pass) 3% of all our property taxes is going to DEBT servicing. I think for that kind of money, I’d like to be able to look around my community and see something for it! Like a much needed and desired multi-purpose Community Centre, that will serve to unite our community, as did the current one… in the past. An improved community transportation system that addresses the needs of ALL the people. Those are just two examples. Instead, I look around, and I see nothing! It’s all buried underground. Out of sight and out of mind...
Dean, Buddy! I take issue with … “if we are going to spend the money then we must bring it in.” I think your premise here is pointing in the wrong direction… ways to "make more in order to spend more", is wrong in my opinion. This attitude has led to our current difficulties of being ‘burdened’ with debt, while seeing very little for it, while also at the same time, seeing numerous and ‘glaring’ examples of ‘real need’ in our community that have not, and will not, be addressed until current priorities and mindsets are changed. Spend LESS, not MORE! And stop taking on greater debt, for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.
Spring/Fall cleanup
Until the last year or two, this was never an issue, nor has it ever become this costly before? What has happened??? I for one would not like to lose this service. After all, it is probably the only service the municipal government gives me that I really recognize and appreciate as one of the benefits of living here in God’s Country, with its FREE pickups. :-) Don’t take my pickups away! :-(
.../btw Bravo to you guys on council for bringing in some much needed rules and guidelines to deal with this issue… but, how it ever got as bad as it did, still begs the question???
The questions are do you want this service? are you prepared to pay for it?
Damn tooting I want the service! And, HELL NO! I don’t want to pay for it! :-)
John
When I made the following comment "if we are going to spend the money then we must bring it in" What I'm referring to is we have a vocal minority in this community that have expectations. They believe government should support there special interests, groups, facilities etc. But what I try to explain to those people is we only have so much money. If you want us to spend more then we can, but we will have to bring more in.
Should we be providing essential services, providing recreational facilities, parks, culture, halls etc. Of course the question is always how much, at what price, do we have the need? are we duplicating a service? we have to ask all of these types of questions. For example I can show you parks that are always busy and other parks that I have not seen a kid at in ten years. The point I'm trying to make is everything government does as a cost. We can provide everything the people of the Crowsnest want but who pays for it? If money gets tight which it is? then we have to look at priorities. We can debate all day long about where money is spent. But government should be no different than me or you we have to live within our means. Government is in a unique situation where we has the "employees" of the people, get to go back to them each year and tell them as the "employer" what they are going to pay us.
Could you imagine an employee of Elk Valley Coal that can't handle his money going back to them and demanding a 11.5% increase this year because he as two trucks but can only afford to run one. But doesn't want to let go of one of them because he just loves both of his trucks, even though he only runs both 30% of the time!
Interesting I've had a lady that's been very vocal with me about my position on the Crowsnest Centre. Ran into her at the Sobey's yesterday surprisingly her taxes went up $800 and she for the first time ever expressed a totally different attitude.
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