It's really weird to be responding to someone who calls himself Mr. Spock. Have no fear sir you are not at risk of being seconded.
My post about staff and council time wasted on a cockamamie idea of a pilot study using residents and winter driving conditions as guinea pigs, was intended to prove a point.
My function as a Councillor is to ensure services provided by the town cost no more than needs be.
The municipality appoints professionals to advise Council on best practices in each particular field.
The cost is high.Very high.
Payroll probably accounts for seventy cents from every tax dollar collected.
I find no sense in having committees of non-elected, non-accountable citizens. occupying space in the town hall, using staff resources, putting forward well-meaning but naive ideas for staff to report on at huge expense and vast blocks of wasted time.
Nothing is accomplished but a charade of industry and righteousness for political appearance sake.
My function is to oversee how taxes we collect are being spent. And to roar when I see them mis-spent.
An election is how we ensure people have input into the decision-making process. Council is "the people" We have nine members whose function it is to maintain communication with citizenry, keep them informed and garner their views on issues and every four years, account to them for the decisions we made.
During the election and throughout the term, I deduced high taxes were a burden.How smart was that.
I know of hundreds of thousands of misspent dollars. I hesitate to say millions because it makes me feel sick to have to acknowledge it.
But I can't stop trying.
Hardship is a fact in our community.
Jobs are being lost. Children still have to be nurtured and mortgages paid.
Seniors are being forced to give up their homes because property taxes are beyond their means.
Taxes should not be one penny higher than they need be to maintain services people need and support.
Advisory committees are not the only drain on resources. Nor are they the heaviest.
But I can tell you one thing for sure...if I were the solitary authority...taxes in Aurora would be reduced this year.
Our museum would be back in its rightful place with a curator to organise it and provide needed guidance to volunteers.
Town staff would be attending to their responsibilities and not the ideas of non-elected advisory committee members who answer to no-one.
Non-elected, non-accountable residents would not be spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on whatever their fancy.
The gravy train would depart the station. All users of town facilities would pay their fair share
Call it a crusade.
Call it anything you like.
I will be striving to accomplish what I always do. Exactly what I said I would.
"But I can tell you one thing for sure...if I were the solitary authority..."
ReplyDeleteThank god you're not. This post smacks of authoritarianism. Not only are you not an expert on everything, neither are staff.
For that reason I welcome community input in the form of committees and participation in public debate in council chambers. It's called democracy. Residents don't sign away their right to participate when they vote.
A number of years ago I was dragged along by a neighbour to a meeting of the Traffic Safety Advisory Board in connection with the placement of new stop signs at a staggered street intersection.
ReplyDeleteThe chairman was a former mayor, a committee member was a future councillor, in attendance was a sitting councillor as an observer and interested party. There were about a dozen residents present and no members of town staff.
The chairman was vehemently opposed to the concept of stop signs at a staggered street intersection, and was quite vocal in this regard. A couple of my neighbours presented vigorous arguments in favour, completely against the chairman's position. He was getting very red in the face and we were concerned that he might pass out, which fortunately he didn't.
There were numerous questions from Board members, all of which were answered in full and with fact, to their apparent satisfaction.
In the end, even the chairman was amenable to the stop sign concept with which he had begun in opposition.
The TSAB approved the request of the neighbourhood and made recommendation to the appropriate town department for the installation of the two new stop signs.
This portion of the meeting was quite extended, about an hour and a half.
It did not cost the town anything for staff time, it was totally democratic and completely responsible.
Democracy can work on a daily basis without authoritarian dictate, without unnecessary cost and with great effectiveness. The one stipulation is that the organizing umbrella lay out the procedures, the responsibilities, the paths of communication, etc. The organizing umbrella is the town council. It is its task to create opportunities for members of the community to participate in its affairs in a constructive, responsible and cost effective manner. This latter refers to town staff time and ultimate dollar cost for tangible items.
Extensive meeting rooms and reams of paper are not required. A little common sense on the part of the organizing umbrella can go a long way to guaranteeing results.
I must say that while it is laudatory to fight to keep taxes as low as possible, there are aspects of our community that we demand that carry high costs, such as leisure services. Just as it is ridiculous for senior citizens to have to pay school taxes, so it is also ridiculous for a family with three children not to have to pay a user fee for swimming pools or ice time or baseball diamonds, or others for hiking trails and parks.
No system of taxation is perfect. Neither is our budgetary process. Frankly I have no sense of competence on the part of the vast majority of elected officials at any government level when it comes to budgets.
But that is best left for another time.
Bingo, anon...
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