May 14, 2005

City Council 18 Months - Little Positive

The fanfare that greeted the installation of Mayor Francis and his fellow members of council is just a memory. How we longed for an era of reform with an end to the secrecy and mismanagement that plunged us into a $200 million financial abyss. The removal of Hurst, the changes to council and administration were heralded as the arrival of responsible municipal governance. As events have unfolded we have been disappointed.

A lower debt level has been cited as something of a triumph. The truth is that debt containment has been accomplished largely with major tax and fee increases. The bloated size and cost of administration remains intact, resulting in excessively high service costs. Recent examples of taxpayer rape are, the blanket application of excessive business license fees and the use of comparisons with other municipalities in Ontario to justify heavy increases in development charges. Just looking for easy ways to increase revenue.

Secrecy still surrounds the Candarel scandal and the financial bloodletting ($1.5 million annually) continues without any sign of relief. Council’s decision to embark on the construction of a totally unnecessary bus depot downtown is another black mark. If council really believes in the Schwartz Report that calls for an integrated transport system, why waste $6 million on an unnecessary downtown bus depot?

Millions of dollar overruns in the cost of the Security Building is really no surprise.

A secret discussion and a vote to waste time on an arena public/private partnership

is nothing less than an insult to hard pressed taxpayers. Before the in-camera meeting, a public discussion should have been initiated to allow concerned citizens to question the necessity or affordability of a new arena. The $15 million “nest egg” should be utilized to repair our crumbling infrastructure not invested in a speculative arena enterprise.

It feels like the “Good Old” Hurst days when taxpayers were told to pay up and shut up. Further the “discovery” of a $4.5 million surplus after the latest tax increase is absurd. Are we to believe that city computers cannot do simple arithmetic?
There are some important underlying causes for this council’s disappointing performance. Administration remains defiantly out of control and selective as to which councilors receive service. A group of tax and spend councilors appear to have joined forces in an effort to elect fellow political travelers in the next election. They are failing in their obligation to the electorate to manage the city’s affairs with total impartiality. These councilors are certainly undermining the sterling efforts of the Mayor and non-partisan councilors.

Windsor Utilities and the Enwin Companies belong to the citizens yet their operations are never publicly discussed. Millions of tax dollars are being spent on unsuccessful commercial operations and a public enquiry is essential. The disposition of the $32 million transfer to the city’s coffers still needs explanation.

The Mayor’s annual state of the city address was generally uninspiring and attendance at the Capitol was pathetic. He must surely see that taxpayers are becoming dissatisfied with overpriced services, a continuing pervasive secrecy and continuing tax increases. There are distinct signs that council is rapidly losing the support of the electorate.

Rightly so!

Al Nelman