We 'll be back at the budget again on Monday. We agreed to bring a list of items each believes can be cut without reducing service.
The Chief Financial Officer e-mailed from his blackberry afterwards directing the lists be provided by six on Wednesday evening so that staff can prepare for discussion.
I did not do that. Staff have had all the time needed for input. It's council's turn. When approved, it's Council's budget.
Only Council is accountable for its content.
So, this week-end I will pore over figures. There are obvious items. Grants to begin.
Funds in the amount of $361,706 provided to the Culture Centre operation under an unsustainable agreement that certainly can and should be revoked.
A Historical Society grant of $50,000, intended for a museum that doesn't exist.
$50,000 for the Arboretum to spend on their program.
$10,0000 for Smart Commute to encourage car-pooling as if it needs encouragement. People paying the high cost of commuting should not be required to contribute to salaries of people sitting in an office in Newmarket making not a whit of difference to anything. And people not commuting shouldn't be expected to pay for it either.
$8,000. to the Chamber of Commerce to present a certificate in their name, in a banquet facility outside the town, to a successful business in town that lasted a long time with no help from anybody we know about.
Whatever thousands it costs extra for Bullfrog Power for the contradictory notion that supporting the principle of energy conservation should cost more and not less.
Ten thousand dollar membership in an esoteric Institute for Excellence ,so that certificates can hang on an office wall and appear in an employee's resume. We pay people commensurately for skills needed for a particular responsibility. I'm not interested in funding further fol-de-rols from my taxes.
There's reference in a business plan to modernise the town's vacation policy.Because of re-organisation new hires were mistakenly provided with three weeks vacation instead of two.. No doubt "modernisation" is intended to correct the mistake without drawing attention to it.
I will not agree to that. Unions need to bargain hard for improved benefits. They haven't..
There's something called a business retention and expansion program that amounts to creating a data bank. It needs more manpower. I don't see a data bank retaining or expanding business in Aurora. The Region has done it.Sounds like duplication to me.
There's a big dollar figure, almost a million I believe, to construct sidewalks on both sides of the Industrial Parkway.The Mayor says Policy requires it . Time to change the policy. Before you spend the money, not after.
Big numbers for the "Customer Service Plan " that nobody at the council table requested, no budget was provided, before the vote was taken.
Five years of rental revenue for the hydro building, swallowed up by spending on the building. Only a municipality can afford to be that kind of a landlord. We are not supposed to be landlords. It is a function frowned upon by Big Brother Ontario.
A charge against the parks budget for a sewer rate for water used to irrigate that never finds its way to a sewer.
I need to find the line item numbers and whatever else is in there that I am damned well not prepared or willing to ask anyone else in town to pay for.
It's going to be a busy week-end. It is my fervent hope it will not be a waste of time.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
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6 comments:
It would be cool if there were a single piece of paper on top of the documents at each Councilor's place reading " It's the Economy, Stupid !" But how many Councilors would have heard about James Carville ?
The sad thing is that all of this is true ,It must be tough to hold the line when you seem to be the only one that gets it,What happened the day after October 25,2010, We had all hoped for so much more
Evelyn:
I am recent to this exercise although I have followed the Cultural Centre controversy closely.
Earlier this afternoon I printed Dan Elliott's Overview Report dated November 7, 2011.
I have gone through the detailed listing of items, Attachments 1 - 11, and do not see any reference to the above, other than on attachment 10 an amount of $1.3 million as a reserve, and under Special Accounts on the same attachment an amount of $44,300 as at December 31, 2011.
I do not I see any reference to the Industrial Parkway sidewalk project.
The Arboretum is shown on Attachment 7 but there is nothing for the Historical Society.
I appreciate that the document from which I am working has been through many revisions and meetings.
Can you comment? Thank you.
In The Wizard of Oz, the Lion wanted Courage, the Scarecrow wished for a Brain and the Tin Woodsman felt he lacked Heart.
We expect our under-paid, over-worked Councilors and our Mayor to exhibit all three traits because we know that at the end of the story it turned out that the three characters already possessed what they desired.
All we can do now is watch and hope to see a show of united brain, heart and courage.
It is there if they chose to use it.
Fielding the entire Council is impossible as, without going into specific, 2/3 individuals lack one or more of
12:14 PM's requirements of brain, courage and heart. A simple majority would be much appreciated, maybe even astonishing.
"Fielding the entire Council is impossible as, without going into specific, 2/3 individuals lack one or more of
12:14 PM's requirements of brain, courage and heart. A simple majority would be much appreciated, maybe even astonishing."
How is then that these people got elected? Clearly they are smarter, braver and/or more loving than most here in order to get the nod.
Take ownership of your mistakes!
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