Council this week looked for more clarification on a few issues, that they appear to be going around and around on.
Administration has given them the opportunity to have a 0% increase on the tax rate.
This is good in the sense that are taxes are high enough, I agree with Councilor Gallant that taxes are a deterrent to attracting people and businesses to the Pass.
Hard enough to say to a coal miner we want you to travel an extra hour a day to work, plus we will charge you an additional $700 a year in taxes to live here.
The bad side to this budget is there is absolutely no allowance for dollars into the reserves for a number of years those reserves were depleted to catch up on infrastructure projects. Two years ago the majority of council put an end to a proposed new shop in Coleman that started out at a cost of less than $400,000 and grew to $1,300,000 which would have virtually wiped out almost all the reserves we had.
Council last year budgeted for $450,000 to be put back into reserves which would have allowed them to grow for the first time in many years. To allow for that same amount to be put in reserves with the present proposed budget you would be looking at a 7% tax increase.
The issue of borrowing money to buy equipment, for the last six years council set aside $250,000 per year for purchasing new equipment. This year that $250,000 is not being put aside its being borrowed in addition to another $300,000 to buy a grader and a track hoe. If that $250,000 was put into the budget for equipment you would now be looking at a 4% tax increase, instead the municipality is taking on $550,000 of debt.
Number of councilors have raised the concern about the justification of the track hoe, administration stated that they are spending $10-13,000 a year to rent a machine. Those numbers by any financial formula do not justify borrowing $250,000 the saving will not even cover the payment on a machine, let alone depreciation.
The issue of hiring, one I struggled with personally for years. I agree with Councilor Saje do an organizational review before you hire more people. Much wiser approach than Councilor Mitchell standard position of “if administration feels we need these positions,then we should fill them”
Administration argues that they have to grow to find the inefficiencies in the organization, with positions being deleted down the road as attrition takes place.
Government positions seldom disappear once they are put in place, work is found to
justify them. In addition you run into labor relations issues with your employees, I have never yet heard of a CUPE local that stated we don’t need that position any more.
Water Meters are going to be sent to the purgatory known as further study.
Administration is also counting on the sale of municipal land to the tune of $125,000 to balance the budget, the current market is almost making the sale of land impossible unless you are prepared to give it away. Should the municipality do that with the taxpayers assets? Should they be in competition with private sellers forcing land values even lower?
Where will the process go from here? A number of councilors have already expressed the willingness to increase taxes by a smaller number than 5.3%.
They will chop at least a couple of the full time positions, placing those savings into reserves, they will increase taxes by 1-2% with the cash like wise going to reserves. The fiscally conservative councilors will get to vote against the increase, which will pass any way.
The track hoe will also go the same direction as the water meters, to be re evaluated when further inefficiencies are found.
Finally Councilor Saje raised the issue of the lack of dollars (zero) for the New Strategic Direction of council, I also have not heard of any dollars for marketing or promoting the community. Likewise for new recreation facilities, affordable housing the only reference that as been mentioned in that regard is Councilor’s Gail idea to put a tax on weekenders that own more than one home in the Pass, which some how will encourage those people to provide those home’s to lower income families.
Showing posts with label 2011 Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011 Issues. Show all posts
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010, reflecting back and looking ahead to 2011.
Looking back on 2010, I will be the first to admit the election did not go quite the way I expected it to. Certainly in my mind the taxpayers in the Crowsnest Pass made some mistakes, time will prove me right or wrong.
I served the community for the last six years standing up for what I believe to be right, could I have done some things differently that would have hurt less politically? You bet.
Over the last six years I had the pleasure to work with many different types of people, on council some of the people I worked with were very good people that cared very much about this community, people that had the “balls” to stand up for change, those people I have much respect for. It would have been easy to just line up behind the Mayor and carry on doing business the way it has always been done in the past.
The municipal staff, I know at times some of the public sees them as a group of pampered, Monday to Friday employees that put in a minimal effort and collect a good pay cheque.
While I’m sure just like any employer there is a few of those, over the last six years I learnt that the vast majority of your municipal staff put in a honest effort day after day and really care about this municipality and their jobs.
The media, looking back over the last six years I will let the reader decide if I was treated fairly.
The positions council took in 2010, we could have done what previous councils have done, “nothing” in an election year but instead we choose to do our job to the end.
In 2010 I was proud that council achieved the following:
We passed a budget with a 3.2% tax increase, with a goal of rebuilding the municipal reserves, a $450,000 surplus was slated to go back into those reserves.
When the year end financials come in I anticipate that 2010 will be the third year in a row that thanks to sound financial management the municipality will show a surplus, compared to the previous six years it was a strong change in direction.
We froze hiring, government does not need to get larger through the recession of the last few years, the private sector became leaner and more efficient to survive, government
needs to learn the same lessons.
We froze overtime with the exception of emergency situations, if the truth was known that saved a lot of dollars. If government employees are working overtime for reasons
other than an emergency, then the administration should be looking at more efficient ways to do things.
We finally resolved the issue of running two half empty community centers, the community now has a center that is full. What’s really interesting, is I have not met a tenant yet at the MDM that does not prefer being there.
The River Run issue, many mistakes were made, one good thing that came out of it was a policy was put in place that development like this will never happen again unless adequate security is in place.
Over the last six years Council was mislead on this issue, at times by foolish dreams and exaggerated promises, at times by people that were strong advocates of this group, and at times by people that should have known better.
Community Standards was in my mind a huge issue, as far as moving this community forward. The days of having “twenty three” old junkers in your drive way and the God given right to live like a slob while everybody around you is trying to make their residence presentable needs to come to an end. This was a first step in that direction.
Administration, council chose to make changes, were they all dealt with perfectly. I recognize a better job could have been done. But what every politician knows at times processes are manipulated to get the outcome certain people desire.
I’m not going to debate the merits of those changes that were made here, but they are done and now history, anybody that would like to debate those changes should take the time to read the Cuff report, it was fairly clear about some of the issues the municipality had to move forward on.
Over all I believe that council achieved a lot in 2010.
Looking forward to 2011, for me personally I’m not going away the Crowsnest Pass as been my home for 27 years and will be for the rest of my life.
I hope to stay involved I have put my name forward for a couple of committee’s (SDA, and the York Creek Seniors) hopefully I will be given fair consideration by council.
If I’m not successful I will attempt to get involved with other areas that need help in the community.
Looking at politics for the next year, what direction will the new council take with the following issues will indeed be very interesting:
2011 Budget-Will spending increase?
Tax Increases-We all hope it stays low!
Water Meters-Conservation yes, cash cow No
Hiring Freeze-Bigger government is it really necessary?
Overtime-Sure a water line freezes, or we get 30cm of snow on a weekend when else?
Duplication of services-Wait until they get into the politics of this issue!
River Run-I remember a member of the previous council telling us “It’s not a big deal just take a cat and push the piles back into the holes”, It will not be any where near that simple.
Crowsnest Centre-This issue will be talked about a long time after I’m gone, if they decide to fire it back up, where does the dollars and tenants come from for this money pit. If they try to sell it, various expectations are going to be way beyond reality that building is a huge liability for any prospective buyer.
Community Standards-will the new council carry on with what was started, will they back off and soften the bylaw?
Affordable Housing-Everybody agrees the need is here, the golden question how do you
achieve it, the last developer that expressed an interest was also building a 5000 seat arena at the lakes.
New Recreation Centre- great idea, where do you put it? How do you pay for it? How do
you carry the future burden.
Infrastructure-this issue will never end, the problem the administration and the politicians
know that there are lots in the ground to be done. However the public wants to see the visible infrastructure see above.
Anyway here’s looking forward to a great year in 2011 for the Crowsnest Pass.
I served the community for the last six years standing up for what I believe to be right, could I have done some things differently that would have hurt less politically? You bet.
Over the last six years I had the pleasure to work with many different types of people, on council some of the people I worked with were very good people that cared very much about this community, people that had the “balls” to stand up for change, those people I have much respect for. It would have been easy to just line up behind the Mayor and carry on doing business the way it has always been done in the past.
The municipal staff, I know at times some of the public sees them as a group of pampered, Monday to Friday employees that put in a minimal effort and collect a good pay cheque.
While I’m sure just like any employer there is a few of those, over the last six years I learnt that the vast majority of your municipal staff put in a honest effort day after day and really care about this municipality and their jobs.
The media, looking back over the last six years I will let the reader decide if I was treated fairly.
The positions council took in 2010, we could have done what previous councils have done, “nothing” in an election year but instead we choose to do our job to the end.
In 2010 I was proud that council achieved the following:
We passed a budget with a 3.2% tax increase, with a goal of rebuilding the municipal reserves, a $450,000 surplus was slated to go back into those reserves.
When the year end financials come in I anticipate that 2010 will be the third year in a row that thanks to sound financial management the municipality will show a surplus, compared to the previous six years it was a strong change in direction.
We froze hiring, government does not need to get larger through the recession of the last few years, the private sector became leaner and more efficient to survive, government
needs to learn the same lessons.
We froze overtime with the exception of emergency situations, if the truth was known that saved a lot of dollars. If government employees are working overtime for reasons
other than an emergency, then the administration should be looking at more efficient ways to do things.
We finally resolved the issue of running two half empty community centers, the community now has a center that is full. What’s really interesting, is I have not met a tenant yet at the MDM that does not prefer being there.
The River Run issue, many mistakes were made, one good thing that came out of it was a policy was put in place that development like this will never happen again unless adequate security is in place.
Over the last six years Council was mislead on this issue, at times by foolish dreams and exaggerated promises, at times by people that were strong advocates of this group, and at times by people that should have known better.
Community Standards was in my mind a huge issue, as far as moving this community forward. The days of having “twenty three” old junkers in your drive way and the God given right to live like a slob while everybody around you is trying to make their residence presentable needs to come to an end. This was a first step in that direction.
Administration, council chose to make changes, were they all dealt with perfectly. I recognize a better job could have been done. But what every politician knows at times processes are manipulated to get the outcome certain people desire.
I’m not going to debate the merits of those changes that were made here, but they are done and now history, anybody that would like to debate those changes should take the time to read the Cuff report, it was fairly clear about some of the issues the municipality had to move forward on.
Over all I believe that council achieved a lot in 2010.
Looking forward to 2011, for me personally I’m not going away the Crowsnest Pass as been my home for 27 years and will be for the rest of my life.
I hope to stay involved I have put my name forward for a couple of committee’s (SDA, and the York Creek Seniors) hopefully I will be given fair consideration by council.
If I’m not successful I will attempt to get involved with other areas that need help in the community.
Looking at politics for the next year, what direction will the new council take with the following issues will indeed be very interesting:
2011 Budget-Will spending increase?
Tax Increases-We all hope it stays low!
Water Meters-Conservation yes, cash cow No
Hiring Freeze-Bigger government is it really necessary?
Overtime-Sure a water line freezes, or we get 30cm of snow on a weekend when else?
Duplication of services-Wait until they get into the politics of this issue!
River Run-I remember a member of the previous council telling us “It’s not a big deal just take a cat and push the piles back into the holes”, It will not be any where near that simple.
Crowsnest Centre-This issue will be talked about a long time after I’m gone, if they decide to fire it back up, where does the dollars and tenants come from for this money pit. If they try to sell it, various expectations are going to be way beyond reality that building is a huge liability for any prospective buyer.
Community Standards-will the new council carry on with what was started, will they back off and soften the bylaw?
Affordable Housing-Everybody agrees the need is here, the golden question how do you
achieve it, the last developer that expressed an interest was also building a 5000 seat arena at the lakes.
New Recreation Centre- great idea, where do you put it? How do you pay for it? How do
you carry the future burden.
Infrastructure-this issue will never end, the problem the administration and the politicians
know that there are lots in the ground to be done. However the public wants to see the visible infrastructure see above.
Anyway here’s looking forward to a great year in 2011 for the Crowsnest Pass.
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