Bedtime Story....Not

I shouldn't have done that. I read the story about the budget in the Auroran immediately before retiring.   No chance of sleep now.

I suggested at the last budget  meeting that various town departments be asked to look for savings in their budgets. The CAO immediately responded that he was very confident staff had put forward a
defensible budget.

Problem is, with all due respect, I do not share his confidence. 

If I were in the Mayor's chair, my voice would  certainly carry more weight. But I 'm not.

So, what to do...what to do.

Well , of course , when all else fails, I will do what I always do. I will  confide in you,. my friends.

On Monday night  at yet another budget meeting, we discussed a recommendation from Chief Building Official that a full-time bylaw officer be hired with a price tag $85 K.

Council  changed it to a contract position and since it wouldn't be filled for a full year, the price tag was reduced almost by half. It was a council recommendation. Not staff.

The job  was one of the items on my list to be cut.

I received a distress call from a part-time contract bylaw officer last year. He felt his job was at risk. Human Resources and the  new manager of bylaws  had decided to  advertise the  five part-time contract positions. He was certain his job was the target. . He had been with the department for a number of years. Did his job conscientiously. Traded   shifts  with others  at holiday times when they wanted to be with their families . One of the key performance indicators for a traffic and parking offence  officers  are numbers of  tickets issued. His record was  solid and consistent. Never a complaint.

He had however been outspoken about  full-time officers not pulling their weight.  Seldom leaving the town hall in fact. He felt  sure of  the reason for recruitment and  suspected  his  would be the contract  not be renewed.

Guess what.  He was right.  After advertising  five positions with  all the work and expense that entailed, his was the only contract not renewed. When he asked for a reason after seven years of productive employment,none was offered..

He did receive a severance package..

He called again a few weeks ago. Told me the person hired to replace him, had already been let go. He wasn't  showing up for work or court dates. He wasn't likely issuing  tickets

Council had been informed of a reduction in tickets.. Reason being the equipment was down. My  information was  the equipment had been down  two years already.

From another source I  have heard  bylaw officers spend  more time in the town hall than they do out where bylaws are being contravened. 

Readers may recall something  I wrote about a huge sign on the road side outside the Highland Soccer field during the South African World Soccer Tournament. The club house was being advertised and the public invited in.  The sign was there for some time. I finally  drew it to the attention of the administration.

What happened then  was a lusty team of soccer players positioned themselves opposite me in the Council chamber to stare me down when their  new agreement was promptly  presented at the  next council agenda for renewal.


The sign was the business of the bylaw department. It was not the business of a councillor to bring it to the administration's attention. It  was certainly  not appropriate for a Councillor to be subject to intimidation in the Council chamber for doing what  was  essentially someone else's job.

Before that, there was a fleet of school buses parked in the parking lot  at the Highland Field for several years. The agreement does not allow the club to use the property for profit. The big orange buses were hardly hidden. They were not likely parked there as a favour. But a blind eye was being turned nevertheless.

They are not there any longer.  All sixteen of them are parked at the Auirora Legion when they are not out on the road transporting school children here, there and everywhere. The Legion parking lot is considerably reduced  under the site plan bylaw with sixteen big buses occupying many spaces and a whole bunch of canoes tucked in behind them as well.

There are similarities between the Legion and the Soccer Club. Neither contribute a cent towards sharing the burden of property taxes.

The Legion shows on the town's books as  taxes due and paid. The town transfers funds to cover the taxes.

Like a grant,don't you know. But it doesn't show up anywhere as a grant.,There are two buildings on the site. The facility caters to all kinds of  revenue producing events. $5.K was paid to the Legion for use of the facility for the last fund-raising event held for the July 1st parade that didn't produce any funds.

The Legion gets police protection. fire protection, snow plowing, garbage collection and  every other service provided by the town. But the Legion pays not a penny in taxes.

Nor does the Highland Field Soccer Club. They cater to weddings, funerals and election victory parties
They have had free use of  a  prime five acre  industrial site for probably thirty years. They also receive  all the services cited above that the Legion does. They pay not a red cent for any of it.

There are other situations like that, The lawn bowling club. The tennis club. The Chamber of Commerce use of a town facility  for the Home Show and paying  only for  days of the show. They don't pay for the days needed for  set-up or take down.We forfeit revenue but they do not pay.

The Street Sale is a  popular and I fancy  financially successful annual event. Significant  town man hours are spent setting up and taking down  and cleaning up. The Chamber  pays none of those costs. . 

Like all the rest, it's a give away. It  doesn't show up in the books anywhere as  expenditures with offsetting revenue. Yet there it is. For everybody to see. Who runs a business like that?

I don't call that a tight ship.

I do not share the CAO's confidence,  the budget is defensible.

Maybe I can sleep now.