Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "We all have our priorities":
I could be wrong but I don't believe the legion receives any funds from the
Town. And as far as councilors paying a membership to this center they can
do that from their own money and not more of taxpayers money.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 4 January 2015 at 14:16
*******************
You are wrong.
The Legion is beholden to the Town .They receive all municipal services. Police ,Fire Protection. Emergency Services, roads , snow clearing, street lighting and everything else that compiles a $53 million budget. Two buildings occupy the property and neither contributes a cent to cost of town
services .
The town pays the Legion's share of taxes to the Region of York and York Region Board of Education and forfeits it's own share of the levy.
In turn, the Legion competes with local hostelry business for available market.
It's all above board.
Some years ago, a higher level of government , lI'm not sure which, gave Region's authority to decide
whether Legion's should start paying property taxes. They were deemed no longer serving the original purpose of providing a place for ex-service men to meet .
The Region of York decided Legions should not pay the taxes. Towns should pay their taxes to Regions and B of E and forfeit the local share.
In terms of assessment revenue the Legion is not just a big fat zero, it is a substantial deficit.
It's not as extravagant but it is in the same category as the Culture Centre.
On the wrong side of the ledger.
I've mentioned the facts a few times before but it somehow seems to glide over most people's heads.
Not unlike the Men's Soccer Club at the south end of town. They. pay a $1 a year lease to the town for a property worth millions. They also have a club house that competes with local restaurants
The lease prohibits renting any part of the property but Benny Steenhorst parked his fleet of school buses there for years.
Now there's a trailer in the far corner.
When the buses disappeared, they showed up on the Legion's parking lot.
The Legion property used to be twice as big. The town bought what was the Legion soccer field. To help them financially I guess. Access was a requirement of the sale. That only made sense.
I hear on the vine the Legion makes regular difficulties about that.
All while renting out parking space required under the town's bylaw to Benny Steenhorst for his fleet of school buses. That's his business.
I think I heard Benny has been named to the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame. You know, the outfit that
has a Town Hall address and gets big fat Trillium grants.
In politics, all kinds of ways exist for looking after friends that pay off eventually.
The exact same number as pisses them off if a voice of concern is raised.
On your second point, Councillors do have an allowance to buy dinner tickets and raffle tickets . I don't think memberships. A Councillor can buy an "associate" membership in the Legion like anyone else out of their own pocket.
But you never know. a Councillor in Richmond Hill bought golf clubs to save the town expense of renting them when he played in the Mayor's Charity golf tournament. I
The Mayor is Honorary member of The Royal Canadian Legion. No membership fee required.
The Legion is now merely a social club. That is too bad because there used to be a purpose.
ReplyDeleteThere do seem to e a lot of things that the Region decides municipalities have to pay. Perhaps the new council will be confident enough to look at ALL the agreements & figure out where cuts can be made.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Evelyn. I had also been wondering how councillors could afford to be at so many events when the total would be beyond me. I guess I sort of understood that if they went to all the activities at the Centre they were not paying the same ticket price.
ReplyDeleteI have friends who are " associate members " at the Legion. It never occurred to me to ask if their drinks were cheaper there than elsewhere.They likely only have one & seem to enjoy the break in the middle of the week now that their kids are old enough to leave for a while. Perhaps it is on a par with dropping by the pub on the way home after work ?
ReplyDeleteWow, we have a lot of culture being paid with taxpayers money.
ReplyDeleteOk, we've picked on the socialites that have the Cultural Centre. Now it's time to pick on veterans, families of veterans and people that enjoy the social atmosphere of the Legion.
ReplyDeleteThe Legion is not competing with the local hostelry business. most people, thinking of getting a drink would not list the Legion as a possible option. The Legion is on the list of those that are members for the most part.
The Legion - and other businesses - should not have to pay B of E taxes.. they have no children in the publicly supported schools. Did the United Church pay taxes to fund it's municipal services? Should the Legion - I don't think so.
Regarding the Soccer club house. Again, I am sitting at home looking for a night out... I am debating going to a local restaturant... Badali's... no closed.... Edward St Bistro... no closed.... Wait a minute, the Soccer Club House....! Get real.
20:28
You should ask your friends about the cost of drinks at the Legion. You may be surprised to see that you can get 2 beers for less than $10. You might be able to throw a game of darts too.
18:52
You're right. Again another reason we need to loose a layer of government in the municipality level... get rid of Town/City councils and amalgamate them under the region's control.
22:51
Now the Legion is culture... for crying out loud!
Seniors, single people, couples with no kids don't have anyone going to school from their houses maybe they should get exempt from paying the B of E! But wait then the taxes that need to be collected would be even higher for those who do because the teachers need to be paid and we all know how they feel about that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe two beers for the price of one out in the world is a good reason to get an associate membership. We have all a family member who participated in war somewhere.
Soccer club well I don't know what to say there except I never had a kid who played there but I pay for that annually. Nice of me eh?
Maybe we should all juststop paying our taxes because I am sure we have a good reason to do so.
Death and taxes the only sure things. The more the town, which is all of us by the way, subsides the more we pay. Balance is a good word that comes to mind. A few Councillors might like to find that so we can all eat tomorrow without more debt. The more you have the more you spend not necessarily the more you save.
If the Cuture Center was making their own money would they still be in business?
"If the Cuture (sic) Center (sic) was making their own money would they still be in business?"
ReplyDeleteUm, but it's not a *business*.
13:54
ReplyDeleteMonkey business
13:54- They have no business! A business has expenses.
ReplyDelete9:31- Everything is going to fall under culture. That's how you get free money now!
ReplyDelete18:52- The Region has its own financial problems. $2.5+ million debt problem. But don't forget who makes up that Regional council!
ReplyDelete15:48
ReplyDeleteBut they can tell Aurora what to do or not do.
Not even going to comment on our rep.
$2.5 billion NOT million.
ReplyDelete$2.5 billion, yet Aurora has no debt. Is what they try to tell us.
ReplyDelete