New numbers pose new questions...

I found out this week that the Multiplex surplus wasn't $609276 as was reported to Council. It is unofficially $710000 at the end of December.


Councillor Coleman in one of our meetings indicated that the $609276 surplus was "mythical". Now that the Multiplex Operating Board has reported at their meeting that it was actually $710000, I wonder if my colleague would consider rephrasing that comment.


This amount of money, kept by the Operating Board, is equivalent to approximately 3.71% in taxes. City Administration indicated in our budget reports that $191205 was equal to 1% tax increase. With the operating budget increase currently sitting at 3.92% increase once the Bylaw is passed, we would be close to a 0 tax increase. (3.92 less 3.71 = 0.21)


Sadly, three members of City Council  hold a position on the facility's operating board and they believe a 3.92% increase in your taxes is warranted. I tried to argue that because the Province had increased revenue sharing by 9.5% we may have been able to achieve a decrease. Further to the proposed 3.92% increase, if the Province decides to use the 2011 census numbers versus the 2006 numbers, Moose Jaw will possibly lose some of the revenue sharing projected in the operating budget. You see, if as a city you didn't grow more than the average, you lose some of your revenue sharing. Moose Jaw didn't grow more than the average. Therefore, your taxes may even go up further depending on the Province's decision of which census numbers to use.


The Operating Budget is not official yet. It cannot be passed by Bylaw until the Capital Budget is completed. The Cities Act indicates: 
"Adoption of budgets
     128(1)  A council shall adopt an operating and a capital budget for each financial year.
           (2)  No council shall pass a property tax bylaw with respect to a financial year unless it has adopted                       the operating and capital budgets for that year."


So the correct thing for this Council to do in my opinion is to revisit the Operating Budget if our revenue sharing numbers decrease. Taxpayers should know exactly what the tax increase will be. We will soon see if that is what Council decides to do. All indications in a brief discussion we had about this issue last Monday is that it may be gobbled up in the accumulated surplus. I disagree with that.


I believe I wrote a post earlier about accountability and transparency. No wonder so many people are not interested in politics at any level. I think they are tired of the same old same old. 


Stay tuned...


Executive and Capital Budget meetings commence at 6:30pm, 27 February in the Scoop Lewry Room, City Hall.


On the Executive Meeting agenda: 
One item - Northeast Concept Plan - Phase 1 Enironmentalv Study and GeoTechnical Survey


On the Budget Committee Meeting agenda:
Main item - O.Serv-7 New Hospital Funding Additional Information

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Accountability and transparency

This article will be appearing in the Moose Jaw Express this week. Budget meetings begin tonight and I believe we will finally be getting down to making decisions on operating and capital. Thanks again for listening...

When I ran for City Council, all three times, I vowed that I would be transparent and accountable to the taxpayers. During our strategic planning sessions, our facilitator said one thing that resonated with me: "Once you begin collecting money from the ratepayers, you have a responsibility to use it wisely and be accountable to them." He may not have said it exactly that way but this is exactly what I always try to do when I vote on motions that come forward at City Hall.

Before Christmas I gave notice of motion for the following: That Administration be directed to provide a line by line budget breakdown of all new or additional spending over 2011 that is above and beyond the inflation rate of 2.5% for 2012 and that such report is available for deliberation on the 2012 operating and capital budgets as soon as possible and then also added for future years in the budgeting process for the same budgets.

The motion was promptly defeated by Council.

Has anyone picked up one of our budget binders and taken a look? Can you tell what is new spending and what isn't? I believe that you should be able to pick up a summary of the budget and be able to determine what is new spending. Because the above motion was defeated, there’s no quick summary to look at.

I remember my first term on Council. There is so much information to digest and so many things to learn about the way the City operates. I certainly didn’t understand everything in my first term and specifically, I do understand now how one small or large decision can affect the big picture. I was reminded just the other day about a decision we made just recently at Council that trickles down to the employee/s who do the work. It occurred to me then that we need to know what happens at the ground level to understand how to make better decisions as well.

There are some who believe that we should do a study for almost everything. One of my arguments for that is and always will be that some other municipality has probably done it. Let’s talk to them and see how we can duplicate it. Others will say that no matter what it costs, we should not ask questions about the new facility because it's going to be the 'economic driver' for the community. On Monday night, I asked questions about actual numbers provided by the board of the new facility and when asked about a significant carryover of funds, I was quickly told that it doesn’t mean the facility has that much money. So I asked again and didn’t get a clear answer.

Some believe that your City Councillors should not be talking to City Hall employees. I know because I've tried and have been told I'm not 'allowed' to. Anyone ever heard of the show "Undercover Boss"? I believe your Councillors could learn a lot from the employees who actually do the work, rather than those who may sit in an office and work from a policy manual.

After eight privileged years of being on Council, the City of Moose Jaw in my opinion, is far from being run like a well-oiled machine that makes smart business decisions to move it into the future. If we continue to spend money like it's grown on trees, with no transparency or accountability, no problems will be solved. We may just exasperate them.

If the City does provide the taxpayers with better, more efficient and improved services, I would have no problem voting to raise taxes. But until we can prove that you are getting better basic municipal services, I think we should sharpen our pencils further and in turn, be more accountable to where your hard-earned money is spent.

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One thing after another...

About a year and a half ago, City Council passed a motion to have the budget process flipped backwards and pulled up earlier in the year to begin the long and tedious process we tend to go through in determining whether or not your taxes will be increasing. We used to receive our equipment budget first, then capital budget, and then operating budget. For some reason, administration ususally introduced the operating budget one or two months into the fiscal year. I always thought that was a bit odd.

This Council changed that about a year and a half ago when a motion was passed, that I introduced, to pull the presentation of the operating budget up to October/November, then capital and then equipment. Two months ahead of the year it is based on. Seems like common sense doesn't it?

Today is 21 November and last week, we received an email from administration that Standing Committee meetings were cancelled on Monday night (tonight) because there are no items to consider. We still do not have operating budget in our hands.

This was just the beginning of an array of "domino-effect" concerning City of Moose Jaw issues that has occured over the last few days ...

First of all, once again, there appears to be no urgency on the part of administration to bring us the operating budget any earlier than normal. Next week is the last meeting for November and my guess is the operating budget will show up a week from tonight and as such, be referred to budget discussions starting the following week on Monday, 5 December. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute! This doesn't help at all, in my opinion. Then the following week is a regular City Council meeting and then the next budget meeting would occur on possibly the 19 December. Then guess what? It's Christmas break and we don't return until January!

I was surprised it wasn't tabled at Council last Monday which then would have allowed us to start deliberations on the operating budget tonight. But no...

Next, when I received the email from City Hall about no meeting tonight I wondered why it isn't possible for this Council to meet and discuss the proposal that has been received at City Hall for the Civic Centre site. That item should have been on the agenda for tonight and telling us that there are no items to consider is ridiculous. With the way our meetings are scheduled, there will now not be an opportunity to discuss this proposal until two weeks from tonight (which would be the regular Standing Committee meetings). This, in my mind, is a big proposal, whatever it may be, for the City and yet no urgency from City Hall to discuss it or at least allow its City Council to take a look at it.

Then on a smaller note, I've been having trouble receiving emails on my iPad for my City Hall email address (dluhning@moosejaw.ca). I've since deleted the account from my iPad and I have been trying to add it back for the last five days with no luck. Being that I know a few of the employees who happen to be on Twitter, I asked one of them if they could help me and I was told I would have to go through the City support as a point of first contact.

Now this may not seem like anything huge but, you should all know that for some reason, someone or some people are refusing to allow me (and I'm not sure if it's happening to other Councillors) to talk to employees at City Hall about anything. There have been occasional situations where I have tried to speak with employees about certain issues and I've been stopped in my tracks. I'm getting a 'feeling' that they've been told not to talk to me. Why would this be ?

As a taxpayer, I thought it might be interesting for you to know that your City Councillors are not allowed to talk to employees of City Hall and ask about issues or situations that may be of interest to them. But wait, maybe it's just me they're not allowed to talk to...or, maybe it isn't. I don't know, but I don't think it's right.

Then on the weekend, I received an interesting comment on Twitter, from a production manager who, to make a long story short, travels around the country doing production for big concerts. This was his comment on my Twitter feed:
"@dawnis how could #MooseJaw build a new arena and not put enough steel in it to be able to rig concerts? 10k lbs/beam is weak! #norealshows"

Whaaa?? Sigh...

This came Sunday morning and I had already tucked another item away in my memory from the week before when a friend pointed out to me that Hedley didn't have Moose Jaw as one of their tour stops. They are booked in Regina, Saskatoon, and Estevan. Why didn't we get Hedley here in Moose Jaw? That young band would have been a perfect fit for this arena, wouldn't they? For anyone who doesn't know who they are, the lead singer was a finalist in the Canadian Idol competition some years back and has done very well since.

Then the message above came through this weekend about the beams in the facility. Are we able to get concerts after all? I need more information for certain.

Mosaic Place was sold to this community as a multi-purpose arena. I asked some questions when we got the initial blueprints about the catwalk being taken out, the length of the track at the fieldhouse... I should have known that possibly more items would come out that might make it deficient for events. Now I'm getting tidbits of info here and there. And what else is yet to come?

This is an important time of year for you as a taxpayer. City Council is going to be deliberating about your taxes very soon.

It's unfortunate that administration has left it until the last minute for us to see the budget documents, cancelled a meeting with supposedly nothing to talk about while an RFP proposal for the Civic Centre site collects dust, and are 'protecting' the employees from answering any questions from City Councillors. Good for them...and we have a multi-purpose facility that was sold to this community as an event centre, a place for more than hockey and curling, and yet that's all that seems to be happening there. Does that production manager know something about our facility that this City Councillor does not?

How many questions did I try and have answered during the 'process' of this facility being built? How many times did the proponents of this facility tell us how much SPIN it was going to create for the taxpayer and how many events it was going to be able to book? Events that Moose Jaw had never seen before. There's no doubt in my mind that the facility will host some great events. My question is, are we able to get the mixture of events that the proponents of the facility told this community they would get?

Or, pardon the pun, has the City taxpayer been snowed again?

It's less than a year until the next election. What questions would you like answered? Maybe you can get the answers for me. I'm having a bit of trouble.

And in the twitter world, I would add a hashtag to that last sentence as follows:
#sarcasm

Enjoy the week!

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It's Election Time in SK...

The following article will appear in the Moose Jaw Express this week. One week later than it should have because one of the other councillors was delayed with their article and pushed this one back. Nevertheless, enjoy...

One year from now, all of us will be going to the polls again – to elect our City Councils. Three years have certainly gone by quickly. Well, two years currently, but I think you know what I mean…

I ran across a blog on the weekend written by a reporter from Victoria who has been assigned to cover his City’s Council. He commented about how when he first got the job, he wasn’t very impressed and thought how boring it would be to cover these meetings. In one line, he said and I quote, “Your eight councillors and mayor have more power to ruin your day-to-day life than probably any other politician you elect. “

Laugh at it. I certainly did. I love the way he phrased that comment.

He is 100% correct and all of us should be more engaged with our City Council and pay close attention to the decisions we are making. Some of the topics we discuss, like bylaw reviews, infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, sewer, and water), and operating budget discussions as examples, probably do have more of an effect on your everyday life in more ways than the current provincial election does, to some degree. It’s not any less important but our decisions made at City Council are certainly closer to affecting the way you live your lives each and every day.

We clear the snow off your streets. Do we or don't we? We cut the grass in the parks around your neighborhoods. Yes, I believe so. We subsidize the facilities you enjoy – the Bert Hunt arena, Optimist Park, Mosaic Place, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, Cultural Centre, just to name a few. We, as a City, do some things well and we probably do some things not so well. And all of you have differing concerns and opinions about what you care and do not care about. Should we move to bi-weekly garbage pickup in the winter for a few months? Should we force everyone to be involved in a curbside recycling program? This may be happening down the road. Should we be taking on the task of affordable housing or are we dabbling in something that is usually provincial and federal responsibility only to find out later, we may have to contribute more? How much can a taxpayer’s dollar be stretched? In municipalities, your dollar is stretched thin and we do have an antiquated and limited way of collecting revenues to pursue priorities. Be that what it may, we do the business of the City through the collection of your property taxes mainly and we have a responsibility to do it properly. The beauty of it? In a democracy, you determine if we are doing it properly or not.

I also believe that municipalities have very distinct and focused priorities. Your elected officials are responsible to ensure that the business of the City is done in the same way you would operate your household. There is only so much money to go around and often times the needs outweigh the wants. However what I have seen over the years is the emotional ties to the wants taking precedent over the things that are not so tangible and quantifiable – the needs. Priorities like infrastructure have been placed on the back burner over the years and whether we like it or not, we have to begin focusing on what built our cities in the first place. What’s tough now and at this point, is finding efficiencies in the wants to help us pump up the needs. All can be argued are just as important to a community as the others.

And this is where your focus counts. You make the ultimate decision as to which elected officials are prioritizing the items you want focused on for your City. The beauty of this country is the fact that you have a right to go out and vote for whomever you like, to represent you. Make sure you do so. There are citizens around the world who risk their lives to vote or only wish they had the rights we have.

On 7 November, remember to exercise your right provincially. And next year at this time, for your quality of life, in the City you live in, do the same on 24 October, 2012. If you don’t vote, you really shouldn’t complain. Take this year and get involved and engaged and tell us what matters to you. We will be listening.

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Who knew a cat could steal your heart...

In the blink of an eye, 15 years goes by. And in those 15 years, our home was blessed to have the best Siamese cat ever. We named him Timon after the character in The Lion King. He had fallen in a fish pond when he was a kitten and our friend Lynn was trying to convince us he'd be a good pet (David really wanted a dog and wasn't all that sure) After being retrieved from the pond, wrapped in a towel, all head and ears and looking exactly like the meerkat in the movie, Lynn gave him to David and he was sold. That kitten clung to him like he'd never let go.

And he didn't. He had our heart from the minute we brought him home. As all pets do, they provide unconditional love and this was our first pet. We loved him dearly and always will.

He was an indoor cat and our wonderful vet Dr. Petz, who helped us with Timon last night, told us we 'would be ripping his fingernails out' if we de-clawed him. So he clawed furniture, speakers, and our mattress for a while and we could never convince him that a scratch post was better. He never got soft food or milk on advice from Dr. Petz and never had catnip because goodness forbid he sure didn't need it!

We watched him scale the kitchen countertops, and on to the fridge and even to the very tops of the cupboards where he would expertly hide behind my Disney plates where he would watch us intently and push them to the edge a centimetre at a time. Man how he hated that spray bottle. Slowly over time we trained him not to jump on the tables and counters but I now remember fondly at how devious he was as a kitten and young cat.

David will tell great stories and asked me last night how I knew when I told our friend Cheryl on the telephone the same one he told the vet last night while Timon was being put to sleep. Timon, much to David's true spirit and love of breaking rules (like father, like son), would be laying on the kitchen table with David nearby, our garage door would go up and he would literally go scrambling to the floor because he knew his momma wouldn't be happy if she saw this display of defiance to the table rule.

For all the love he gave us, Timon sure knew what we were useful for. David was his playtoy and furnace for keeping warm and me, his food provider, cleaner-upper, and comforting lap as he got older. You see, when he was little and for about the first 7-8 years he wanted no part of us. At least in ways that most cats 'pretend' to be soo independent and not needing. But into the last half of his life he learned that maybe snuggling up on our laps and chests wasn't all that bad. Possibly he had decided that he'd have us even further under his 'thumb'. Boy was he right.

Any of you who's had a pet knows what we are going through. This is a first for us and honestly I think we are both devastated. Our house is too quiet and there are little things that I'm already recognizing that he had his paws in and on, that are now gone.

He was a great cat. David's brother Hal always said he was the coolest cat he ever knew. Timon fetched like a dog; he literally trotted to you and galloped when you called his name to come, and he brought us more joy and laughs than anyone.

So many memories and so much love. Dr. Petz assured me that it was time. I needed to hear that. Both David and I didn't want him to suffer and she knew he was beginning to. David stayed with him and I am so grateful that he did. I couldn't bring myself to do that. But I also know that Timon knows how much we loved him and how much joy he brought to our lives.

I'm sure we will stop crying one day. I know we will. For now, all I want is for Timon to know how much happiness he gave us and that we are so thankful for his unconditional love.

On an ironic note, Disney just released The Lion King this month to a new generation of movie lovers. My, the Circle of Life has come true for us...

We will miss you our dear friend, so much ...

Sleep now and we will always love you ...

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Technology

So for anyone that knows me, I like technology. And this morning while having coffee I ran across this Blogger iPhone app which will allow me to update my blog from my phone.

As I wander around the City I often see things I'd like to share with you right away and I haven't been able to do that. Unless you follow my Twitter feed as I update a lot to there.

As I sit on my front step this afternoon and this morning on my run, I've noticed leaves on the ground. I guess it's to be expected. I've also noticed that we have a lovely summer-like weekend ahead and frost warnings coming this week. That may mean that my flowers could be done for, soon. The thought of winter and cold is still too early for me and I'm going to enjoy every minute of this weather as much as I can.

So on that note, I'll sign off now but you may see more from me on this blog now that this lil' app has made it so easy.

Have a great weekend everyone and Go Riders on Sunday!

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Finally!

The time has finally arrived.


Moose Jaw is getting a new hospital. The announcement was made today at the Union Hospital by Minister Don McMorris and a long fought battle over a new facility is now in the books.


Details are still being finalized. The City will be meeting with provincial officials over the next few months to determine all kinds of things I would imagine. The City will also have to make a decision in regards to the amount of the levy. Each taxable property currently pays $40/year to the hospital project and thankfully the provincial government just changed our share from 35% to 20%. On a project of this magnitude that 35% would have been much more.


20% is still quite a bit and I would like to continue to pursue the fact that Saskatoon and Regina do not pay anything for their hospitals for capital. The field should be level for everyone.


When it comes to your health, we as Canadians are usually in a position where we can go almost anywhere for care if we can get into a facility for the treatment. It really doesn't matter where it is located.


So here's to a finally getting a new hospital in Moose Jaw! There will be more details to come...

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