"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Saturday 2 April 2011

Continuance of Previous Post

It seems I may have reached a physical  limit of some sort on the previous post.This part  is the explanation of why I  copied the information  received. 

I don't know if  the figures are  accurate.

It shouldn't  be hard for treasury to affirm.

I believe it would be useful for new councillors to contemplate.

Consider how much we spend on a department whose purpose it is to encourage business to locate here and provide advice about why they should stay and then look at those tax increases again.t

Consider the experience of the small business operator and decide if the town's spending growth has been  beneficial  or detrimental to his interest.

Ask yourself . Who  was  responsible for the various extravagances adopted by the town in  recent years on the pretext of  improving  our economy?

The administration? The political body?

Neither? Or both?

As an elected representative, am I allowed to ask that question? Or is it perceived to be a malevolent attack on town staff? Like harassment perhaps?

Do not  forget the  confident declaration by the C,A,O, that staff have presented a completely defensible budget.

I suppose it's good that someone is confident. I certainly am not.

Not in any way shape or form  am I prepared to tell the small entrepreneur,  the money we spend on
consultant studies for heritage neighbourhoods, promenade studies,strategic plans, buying culture,lawyers to sue residents, integrity commissioners,codes of conduct, meaningless platinum sponsorships for  this and that fan dangle , hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hands of non-accountable volunteers to construct  flower beds, replacing underground services which are still brand  new, millions of  dollars constructing roads with either bad designs or incompetent  supervision which have failed  miserably in short order,  thousands of dollars to construct something for salt abatement which abates none whatsoever  and a whole host of other items that represent money spent with  no advantage  to anyone outside the walls of the town hall except for the various individual  beneficiaries of the town's excess largess.

As much as anyone, I have been responsible for  time taken  not  to approve this budget. To make some inroads on the excesses of the past and assure the community this council will make a difference. We will remove the outrageous accumulated fat in past budgets from this budget.

We will make sense of the tax grab.

Councillors have spent many hours ,one- on- one with staff and  various non-accountable agencies. They  have allowed themselves to be persuaded the various projects that soak up public  resources are valid and defensible.

I have done what I could.

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