Monday 20 January 2014
What's Wrong With this Picture
Budget again ....9 a.m. Monday.
i will rise at 6.30 a.m.
Shower,dress, make-up ,breakfast, clear snow off the car
If it was easy I would still be in full time employmrnt.
I' m not being paid for it either.
I wont lie. As the day wears on , resentment will grow.
This second full day budget session is not for the convenience of "part-time" Councillors.
Staff will be handily accommodated.
The budget will be completed and time cleared for mid-winter break .
I raised the issue of Councillor salaries at the last budget meeting. Created a slight stir but
that's all.
Councillor remuneration has kept pace with outside workers union rates .....not management level.
It's been that way for ten years.
Except for the position of Mator.
An ad hoc committee recommended $9.thousand dollar increase for th at office and full employee benefits....health..dental...life insurance, long-term disability...etcetera..etcetera
Councillors can have benefits as well as long as they pay for them.
No recognition for increased responsibility or time demands .
Minimum wage ....nada benefits....accountable for a budget pf $75 million and authority
over staff earning eight to ten times as much.
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18 comments:
You have no ' authority ' over staff except on paper. It is impossible to exercise or delegate authority to staff without communications with them. Heck, it is impossible to figure out what is going on half the time. The only thing certain is that it will not be staff who have to garner votes in the near future.
So, run for mayor.
Why, 9:44 ? Evelyn is perfectly positioned. If you are looking for a vote-splitter, perhaps Nigel will oblige.
Many companies and even government institutions offer incentives to employees for ideas that result in increased efficiency/cost savings.
Possibly a system along those lines would result in a town that is better managed.
Retainers of consultants and planners where these are not needed, i.e. staff could do the work better and at a lesser cost, might be one thing that could result in members of Council actually saving money and from this they could be paid an incentive bonus.
Conversely, if councillors have an urge to spend taxpayer monies irresponsibly. those voting in favour of this sort of thing could be penalized financially.
Possibly the Treasurer could keep track of merits/demerits by individual councillors and at each fiscal year-end it would be determined those who get and those who have to give back.
There have been numerous instances during the past year where this system could have worked well, where money was spent foolishly or could have been saved.
You'll fight against every expense but councillors' salaries.
Do they at least feed you ? Or would Councillor Ballard want that added to your expenses ?
What is a councillor's salary?
What would be a reasonable figure?
What does the mayor get as mayor of Aurora and in addition as a member of Regional Council?
We now know what Directors receive.
A good day's work, councillor.
Because, 11:21, if "Evelyn" is envious of the mayoral salary and benefits package, she could only attain it by winning the election for the office.
11:45
What salaries ? We all know they are laughable compared with comparable positions.
@11:45
BS as usual
I was a finally able to download the Hillary-McIntyre Park Cost-Benefit Study.
My version consists of 96 pages and not 107. Even if you include the CAO's 9 page covering report No. CAO14-001 you don't quite get there.
One thing that is missing from the Study is Schedule A that purports to measure the risks of purchase. Since this is ostensibly a cost-benefit exercise, surely this very important element must be included.
Hillary House has been operating as an historical attraction for some time. What did it originally cost and what has been spent to the end of 2013 for restoration work and is further restoration still required going forward? What is this latter amount?
What has the annual revenue been for Hillary House for each of the past five years and how many paying visitors have gone through it, apart from those attending various functions? What have some of these functions been, how many people participated, and what revenue was generated by them?
What is the annual cost to the town to maintain and operate Hillary House, including foregoing property taxes?
17:32- Envious?...Geez..You have no clue what Evelyn is all about do you?
17:32
She's been there, done that. You ? Isn't your contract about up ?
The Deputy Clerk posted her report on the closed session with tomorrow's date. It was little things like that that kept me awake today as I watched my very first budget meeting. I have no idea how you stay awake.
Meanwhile Cllr Ballard is twitting about how many km of sewers there are. Really put the world in perspective.
For what a councillor is paid and all the rubbish that is considered "part of the job" they have to love what they do or they would not do it.
if my guesstimate is correct, its marginally better than a full-time greeter at Walmart,and just below, assistant department manager at "The Dollar Store".
Now those jobs don't offer anywhere near the level of excitement and entertainment as does a Town of Aurora position, yet i must re-iterate- nobody does it for the money.
Evelyn has been at it for 50 years- so who are we to challenge her knowledge and candour???
As in every corporation, public or private, some are paid too much and some are paid too little for their contribution.
fyi- i like the idea about the demerit point system. Wasting taxpayers time and money should have a dollar figure attached to it. Good idea +$100.00, bad idea -$1000.00. This would make them think twice before they: build a new park, open a museum, try and save dying trees etc.
Some current councillors (no names mentioned but i think you know who) would be in the red for sure and the scariest part would be - they would not know why!!!!
Once more into the fray. Unless Rogers gets a better offer, you might have company. It's still bloody cold out there. I wonder how much has been saved since they agreed to shut the doors to that room.
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