I know its been a while:
Couple of things, first of all a big pat on the back for Municipal Administration, all of our CUPE members, Fire/Rescue departments, other various volunteer groups, contractors, outside agencies and any one else that helped out during the events of the last few days. Everybody was well prepared, very proactive instead of reactive, things could have been a lot worse. (And lastly kudo's to my fellow members of council)
Lets not forget the bins are parked at the Coleman Sportsplex waiting to be filled, I was told by the landfill that it was going very well until the rain started. I have heard some complaints but please keep in mind this is the first time we will take your input and make the program better.
This weekend we also have the Hillcrest mine disaster 100th memorial and Bellcrest days.
Showing posts with label Cleanup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleanup. Show all posts
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Crowsnest Centre closes but my taxes didn't go down!
I received a comment today, somebody attacking me become the Centre closed but their Taxes did not go down.
Also they accused me of being hell bent on shutting everything down.
I will answer both of these issues:
First of all the Centre as only been closed for a short time, so obviously most of the costs to run the place would still be there until the consortium moved.
Then there were additional costs to relocate various groups.
Next you have never heard Dean Ward state that taxes will go down.
The costs of operating the municipality goes up every year, wages, utilities, fuel, maintenance etc, etc.
We have several options we can just raise taxes to generate enough income, we can shut down facilities and or services, or we can do a combination of both by becoming more efficient.
That is why the Cuff report states again and again that we have too much duplication of services and facilities.
Now I do not advocate for a second that we should go on a rampage and shut every thing down, but what we need to do his look at all of our facilities and services (kind of in line with Cuff's assessment) and determine if we can do things smarter.
Look at the example of the arena's we used to have two arena's with ice in them both, with 70 kids in minor hockey and 30 in figure skating each arena was running less than 30% of the time.
Now we have one arena with ice, running 60% of the time, and a second arena being utilized to develop other forms of recreation (Lacrosse, Indoor Soccer etc) and costs us a $100,000 a year less to run.
That's $100,000 less a year that the municipality as to come up with or the equivalent of a 1.7% tax increase.
Garbage cleanups we used to do two a year during my first term the cost got as high as $370,000 a year, we went to one cleanup and had our administration put more focus on the process and now we were down to a little over a $100,000 last year or the equivalent of a 4% increase in our taxes.
Nobody is talking about us shutting every thing down we talking about being smarter and even though taxes do not go down they should go up a lot less if we become more efficient.
Also they accused me of being hell bent on shutting everything down.
I will answer both of these issues:
First of all the Centre as only been closed for a short time, so obviously most of the costs to run the place would still be there until the consortium moved.
Then there were additional costs to relocate various groups.
Next you have never heard Dean Ward state that taxes will go down.
The costs of operating the municipality goes up every year, wages, utilities, fuel, maintenance etc, etc.
We have several options we can just raise taxes to generate enough income, we can shut down facilities and or services, or we can do a combination of both by becoming more efficient.
That is why the Cuff report states again and again that we have too much duplication of services and facilities.
Now I do not advocate for a second that we should go on a rampage and shut every thing down, but what we need to do his look at all of our facilities and services (kind of in line with Cuff's assessment) and determine if we can do things smarter.
Look at the example of the arena's we used to have two arena's with ice in them both, with 70 kids in minor hockey and 30 in figure skating each arena was running less than 30% of the time.
Now we have one arena with ice, running 60% of the time, and a second arena being utilized to develop other forms of recreation (Lacrosse, Indoor Soccer etc) and costs us a $100,000 a year less to run.
That's $100,000 less a year that the municipality as to come up with or the equivalent of a 1.7% tax increase.
Garbage cleanups we used to do two a year during my first term the cost got as high as $370,000 a year, we went to one cleanup and had our administration put more focus on the process and now we were down to a little over a $100,000 last year or the equivalent of a 4% increase in our taxes.
Nobody is talking about us shutting every thing down we talking about being smarter and even though taxes do not go down they should go up a lot less if we become more efficient.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Community Standards Bylaws Crowsnest Pass
Well Tuesday May 4th, in Council chambers we held a public hearing on the community standards bylaw. Probably somewhere between 50-60 people showed up.
First of all our good Mayor gave those in opposition the opportunity and encouragement to speak (I lost count but at one point I was up to 18 times that he requested those folks to come forth).
The issues that I heard from those opposed to this bylaw (16 people spoke in opposition), were one that people would not be able to do their own mechanical repairs on their property, two that seniors on fixed income would be forced to perform costly renovations and three that I have a god given right to do whatever I want on my own property.
On the positive side were eight people that spoke about the need to clean up the community, that 95% of the residents comply with the standards, and that to attract both residents and businesses we need to make the community as appealing as possible.
Response after the meeting almost everybody I have spoke to, is in favour of the bylaw.
Next step May 11 at our committee meeting the floor is open for any councilor to bring forth amendments. I plan on doing that to address the concerns raised above.
First of all our good Mayor gave those in opposition the opportunity and encouragement to speak (I lost count but at one point I was up to 18 times that he requested those folks to come forth).
The issues that I heard from those opposed to this bylaw (16 people spoke in opposition), were one that people would not be able to do their own mechanical repairs on their property, two that seniors on fixed income would be forced to perform costly renovations and three that I have a god given right to do whatever I want on my own property.
On the positive side were eight people that spoke about the need to clean up the community, that 95% of the residents comply with the standards, and that to attract both residents and businesses we need to make the community as appealing as possible.
Response after the meeting almost everybody I have spoke to, is in favour of the bylaw.
Next step May 11 at our committee meeting the floor is open for any councilor to bring forth amendments. I plan on doing that to address the concerns raised above.
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