Things You Hear

"Scrupulosity of an amateur" is a phrase   heard  in my teens.
 A priest used it in a sermon from the altar. the sermon is long gone but the phrase remains.
It may have stayed with me because it is so apt. 
As an elected representative, I need to keep it constant..
It's important not to go off half-cocked ..
 I ask. I probe.I pose contrasts. I seek clarification.
It may well be tedious for colleagues. 
I begin with intuition . I know better than  to  form  a conclusion without having all the facts.
My task  is to inform and persuade . First I must secure my own  understanding. .
Without it, I lose credibility.
It's becoming difficult in council. Colleagues don't  share my understanding of the  responsibility.
We  had a couple of odd meetings this week.
On Monday, Council met  as the audit committee. A second part of the meeting was behind closed doors. 

Not talking about the second part, makes talking about the first part, tricky.
The second part was directly related to the  first part
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The Audit Committee is constituted to receive the annual audited financial statement.
The Statements are published. Seldom do they draw attention.
In my early days, Financial Statements were distributed at annual nomination meetings.
Elections were held every twelve months.It was fitting for the financial accounting to accompany nominations for office.
In  1967, for the first time, Aurora's budget  topped a million. 
Budgets  were always clear and easily understood 
The first principle of taxation  is  they should be clearly and easily understood. 
Operating expenses. Debt. Revenue. 
Costs rise.  Assessment growth  pays.
No growth. Costs increase. Taxes rise.
Continual substantial tax  increases, accompanied by substantial growth, means a complacent Council  not doing its job.
Tax increases are not a given.   
Budgets process is simple; Actual spending from the previous year must be available.  How much more it will take to maintain the same level of service. How much extra  to fund necessary  increases.
How much  left over to improve the level of service. . 
In the past, we  talked about building  reserves to replace worn out equipment. Sometimes we  created one. We almost always had to spend it before the year was out.
We never ended the year in a deficit. Regulations do not permit municipalities to budget for a deficit. 
We had a water reserve. A flat rate of about $7.50 a quarter.paid what it cost to pump water out of the ground and put money in the bank. We  borrowed  from it when we needed to. Paid it back with interest.
The  water bill  came out with the hydro bill.
Sewers were on the tax bill.  Everybody paid.
Call me stupid. Some will I know. 
But I'm inclined to think  how things were done in the past is releavnt to how they are done today. 
Budgets are no longer easily understood.W  create  reserve accounts that tally into  the millions.on the backs of property owners. 
We replace equipment willy-nilly.
We adopt a strategic plan that presents as its goal  " exceptional quality of life for all residents" 
Who do we think we are?.
We cite the goal in every staff report. And  we authorize staff  to budget  to achieve  an exceptional quality of life for all. . 
Imagine that; "And exceptional  quality of life for all.
Did you knowyou were voting for in the last election.?
If a candidate with a straight face promised that, would you have  taken him at his word?
We paid a consultant $80,000. to come up with  that verbiage.    
We tax current  property owners so that  people living here twenty years from now, will be able to enjoy amenities we paid for with higher taxes than were needed to meet our own needs.  .
Budget documents are no longer  decipherable.Even the figures are like spider tracks.
Just weeks ago, Councillor Gallo discovered a six digit figure, twice listed  for the same project in the Capital  Construction forecast. 
It was  a mistake. 
During budget deliberations, we are  assured  the  Capital Construction  forecast does not affect the operating budget or the tax rate.
Yet, once approved, it moves forward like a juggernaut to be used  in  the next year's budget calculation. 
On Monday night ,the Audit Committee (Council) received  a disturbing  report . Things are not as they should be. Certain factors were disclosed.
To protect privacy of the individual, Council went behind closed doors with the auditors to dig deeper into the matter 
There will be a report.      
    

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