The following letter will no doubt need to be copied to supporters of the Culture Centre as they forward letters to council for tax support to the facility.
Last time supporters were rallied to send letters to Council, the numbers never got above four and a couple of them were from the boonies of Newmarket.
The board is once again mounting a political campaign to preserve the status quo.
Y' know, in times past, when an appointed board found itself in conflict with Council, they simply did the honourable thing and resigned.
Not this lot. Oh dear me no! They are very confident of their moral right to challenge the elected representatives of the community.
Even to the extent of organising a political campaign.
Even to the extent of organising a political campaign.
Of course, the battle is half won when Council that doesn't understand whose interest they're supposed to be serving.
"What would people say about a town that doesn't honour their agreements?"
"Cheez ....and what would people say, when it's understood what a half-assed agreement it is you are honouring?"
An agreement that robs us blind to pay for free concerts, sing-alongs and art shows,
for the elite among us for Pete's sake"
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Good Morning Mr and Mrs
As taxpayers you may be interested in the following figures.
In 2009 the town transferred $259,000 in tax revenues to the Culture Centre.
A matching sponsorship of $50,000 was included. Receipts for the first three months were $309,000.
Maintenance and upkeep for the building totals $147.000 a year.
Despite $3 million dollars spent in renovations, the building was leased to an unaccountable board,for $1.00 a year.
In 2010. the amount of taxes transferred was $343,000 .
Maintenance and upkeep for the year $147.000. Again rent was $1.00 a year.
In 2011, taxes transferred were $347.000 Maintenance and upkeep probably $150,000 .. Again rent of $1,00 a year.
In 2012. the amount transferred from taxes will be $353,000. Maintenance and upkeep will be in excess of $150,000.
Lease will still be $1.00.
Revenues from activities will no doubt add substantially to the munificence of the town's largesse.
Cash Money flowing freely from the town treasury to the Culture Centre, plus the price of maintenance. plus a factor for unpaid rent , will not fall far short of three million dollars in three years.
Expenditures for all other leisure and recreation programs in the town are close to five and a half million dollars.
Revenue realised from user fees equals the expenditures.
I need no financial advisor to tell me something is seriously skewed in that equation.
Neither am I persuaded the inequity should continue a minute longer than it takes to say NO.
I understand that as taxpayers, you think your neighbours should shoulder the exorbitant tax burden for this facility and programs provided therein.
You may be interested to know, I do not.
And I speak for others besides myself.
Posts
23 comments:
Looks like Clr. Ballard has other ideas…
http://chrisballard.weebly.com/aurora-cultural-centre.html
What I want to know is an answer to this.
If you take say $750,000 that was raised for a museum and accept around $1,000,000 from a Heritage grant and then poof and with a wave of the magic wand
switch to something else(Cultural Center) because you blame members of the historical society that they cannot provide displays,is that honest?
What kind of message are we sending to our youth when we can flip funding to whatever we want.
For decades the public believed they were donating to the Historical Society for a museum at the Church Street School.
The Culture Vultures could have reached out to the community to ask for help rather than just TAKE.
This is a disgrace and the founders of our community are turning in their graves.
Come to think of it I had previously thought that Heard character who does the tours was a little weird but now I think he may be on to something.
I propose the descendants and founders are a little pissed off and they are making it known.
It may be crazy gibberish however the only thing bonkers is the entitlement these Culture tenants have about a building that is not theirs and neither was the money to open it.
I am ashamed.
My apologies Mr.Heard,you are not as crazy as I thought.
Maybe the opposite.
2:55 PM
Ballard and Ideas should not occur in the same sentence.
Ah, the Cultural Centre, a misnomer if ever there was one. Brought to you by People who ask What they can Get from Aurora instead of what they could do for Aurora.
Get Ballard's Rangers to be deputized by the Mayor as honorary constables and they should then take over physical possession of the Cultural Centre as a means of holding it hostage to the repayments of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. These should be claimed immediately based on a detailed statement drafted by the Town's Treasurer and Mayor.
$1.00 per year in annual rent. And this on top of the DND lease. Blatant perfidy.
Aurora needs a Property Manager accustomed to dealing in the commercial world.
Aurora has had enough of these free-loaders. I don't think any of us would pay heed to them if they rode naked through the town, except to wonder idly from whom they had stolen the horses.
OMG when you see these stagering numbers one has to question how it has taken the new council this long to terminate this red herring of an agreement, Congratulations to councilors Piri and Abel for their leadership and courage to act immediately in getting this burden lifted from the backs of the Tax Payers, Well Done !!
During the last election. Aurorans only had so many votes to spread to eliminate the epidemic. They did the best they could but 2 old guard managed to slip through the cracks and one we hadn't paid any attention to when he was running in the shadow of Morris. There is still one iffy vote, that of the the very quiet Mayor who we simply did not comprehend and are not sure of even today. But there was a clear message - stop stupid spending. They can take this and use it and take the consequences. All four of you.
Hello Evelyn your idea that the board should just resign does not seem to match your usual fiesty MO -- the board puts forward it views and thoughts to the community and then council decides on how to proceed -- I call that democracy in action and you always espouse standing up for what you believe in. i must assume that applies to citizens with a different view point than your own. At least we always know where you stand. The cultural centre is not running a campaign against anyone simply standing up for something that thousands fo Aurorans seem to like -- the centre had 20000 separate visits in 2011 -- some of them came from out of town to spend their money in our community I view that as agood thing. hope you do too.
wondered what yourthoughts are on Christopher Watts filming me and other members of the public, not council, in the council chambre tonight, do you think that is an intimidation tactic. regardless he didn,t want to talk when I approached him
Why is Tracy Smith joining Ballard to bring numbers of Culture Vultures to the Town Hall if not to attract attention?Then she has the gall to complain about being photographed. Completely nuts!
Dear Ms Smith. I wonder if you even live in our town. Christopher is an Auroran taxpayer who contributes to your salary. He is entitled to take his photos in the Town Hall which he also helps fund. You could follow the example of the former Mayor and her best friend. They kept calling the police. Look where it got them.
" Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves "
" You'd hear it in the town(s), they'd call us gypsies, tramps and thieves"
With Apologies to Cher
And that is what the Town of Aurora residents have concluded.
This Smith woman turns up with followers to intimidate Council into supporting the Vultures with the implication that there are many more than in actuality.
Then she suggests that Watts might be trying to intimidate Her by taking photos of those in the audience. Well, lady, if we could afford a second camera, Rogers would have done the job. But, since we have spent too much money on flea-brained projects, we watch the pennies.
Aurora knows all about intimidation - how dare you insinuate we would employ it ?
I do live in Aurora, for 27 years . One of the things that interests me is encouraging more people to be engaged in the democratic process. Sometimes that means going to the council chambre to see our government in action.
For some, just being at council is kind of intimidating so it would be important that members of the public feel comfortable being there. I was just wondering what the purpose of another member of the audience using his hand held video camera to film members of the audience. I could not figure out any reason for that. watching me watching
council must be like watching paint dry. But I did introduce myself so that he can put a name to the face that he was videoing. Anyway that was the simple reason for my question on this blog.
One last clarification, Anonymous , at least one of them, has me mistaken for some one else -- I am not an employee of the Town.
There is a job fair coming up at the big golf course on Yonge south of the Stouffville Road. I would draw this to the attention of employees of the Culture Centre. Any last reluctance to move you out has vanished with the further evidence of your incredible arrogance. Sorry about your job losses but we have plenty of good decent groups in town that will provide your services cheaper, much cheaper, and with less aggravation. All year there are events in town that do not make waves. Take that show on the road, please.
MISTER Tracy Smith said:
"One last clarification, Anonymous , at least one of them, has me mistaken for some one else -- I am not an employee of the Town."
... nor are you a woman! *snorts*
This Tracy Smith thing is having to do a lot of clarification having got a few things wrong including its own sexuality. Now we know the cultural centre figures are fudged. They are claiming the Farmers' Market as THEIRs and adding the figures of weekly visits to local merchants to their already questionably tally. And how many minutes do you think it would take Aurora to find a better site for the winter market ? Right. And it would have better parking and no need to haul stuff around. They can't get anything right, these vultures, can they?
What a bunch of losers !
A really good puppeteer never betrays his/her hand on the lines. Evilina was never a good puppeteer as she betrayed herself though abusive language and thinly veiled threats. It must be hard to see what you figured would be your lifetime achievement placement under threat but, baby, Aurora owes you nothing. You have never repaid the town for your damage. Did you really think you could just walk away into the sunset?
To Anon 6:03pm
Here is another tidbit that smells of conflict.
The person handling the Farmers Market events is on The Cultural Center Board and the Farmers Market executive.
The smell rises from the building like the bowels of the last term.
The CRA won't have anyone from their field office that includes Aurora available to look at Culture Center's not for-profit until late April. They are interested in the vanishing town support money and the use of honourariums. The full-page thank-you note drew a hearty laugh in response.
"Here is another tidbit that smells of conflict.
The person handling the Farmers Market events is on The Cultural Center Board and the Farmers Market executive."
Name names, I believe the above statement is false.
12:25 PM
If you believe information is incorrect, simply correct it -if you can do so without landing yourself in trouble.
Anonymous says that there is crossover with the Farmers Market and the Cultural Center Board -- wow that's scaaaaaary kids -- imagine if those radicals at the Farmer market get control of our town through these nefarious means -- lets get to the bottom of this take over -- we know who is on the Board fo the Cultural Center - its on their web site now, my plan if it works, would be to see who is on the Executive of the Dangerous Farmers Market -- we just compare lists and see if there is one name that is on both -- voila we have the culprit -- wait though, they may be using false names mmmmmmmmm this is going to be harder than I originally thought!!! I'll get back to you anonymous and thanks for alerting us to this underhanded plan!
I have also heard that some members of the Farmers Market may be growing vegetables -- be scared very scared!
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