Heading into what is officially the fourth municipal budget session Tuesday night, budget chairman Derek Roberson said the process really hasn’t begun.
“We haven’t even started yet, and it’s no fault of anyone but council,” he said. “I sat through the pain of developing a budget direction with administration and we’ve asked them to do something we have no intention of following.”
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On Jan. 12, administration presented a 1.96 per cent base budget tax increase, as well as increases for infrastructure, bringing the total to 3.29 per cent. An estimated $900,000 in service cuts were recommended to get to a two per cent increase.
Since then, the budget increase has swelled to 3.44 per cent.
Robertson said the budget process “highlights more than ever before” that council at 17 members, is “way too large.”
“This is in no way an efficient form of governance,” he said. “It’s not even like herding cats – it’s like trying to walk a dolphin.”
Robertson said the council is “afraid to cut anything” that relates to a specific part of the community.
“We are very parochial in how we handle our business,” he said. ‘There is a lot of talk about change, but virtually no one has the courage to go out and make the decisions that will lead to change.”
He said the recent examples of East Kent demonstrate that. Robertson was the only council member who voted to close the Bothwell Arena but even he said he didn’t want to see it happen.
“We have to wake up to the idea that these things are possible and if no one in the public believes how serious it is, we won’t get the public input needed.”
“We had a very wise amendment by (West Kent) Coun. Bryon Fluker who said we should fund the arena out of reserves, remove it from the base budget and give residents a year to see what can be done to make it viable. It was voted down. We had a plan that would have forced us to work toward a solution, but we wouldn’t take the step.”
Robertson said the Bradley Centre loses hundreds of thousands annually, but council pores over every dollar instead of dealing with the real issue of whether it should be municipally owned at all.
“We own over 150 buildings, probably more than any other municipality of comparable size. Our assets are becoming our liabilities.”
He said council needs to take to heart (Chatham) Coun. Brock McGregor’s opinion that, “It isn’t the building that makes the activities, it’s the activities that make the building.”
“We seem to have the idea that because someone did something somewhere for the past 50 years, it’s untouchable and can’t be changed,” he said. “What’s more important here, the activity or the building?”
Robertson said he fears council will use reserves to put off decisions that need to be made now.
“The issues that face us economically and socially aren’t going away,” he said. “If we don’t face them, we’re just shirking our responsibility.”
Robertson isn’t alone in his estimation of the process.
Former South Kent Coun. Art Stirling, who spent four years as budget chair, said he faced many of the same challenges.
“You could see it last year when they raided reserves to come in with a zero budget,” he said.
“I’d bet dollars to doughnuts the same thing happens this year.”
He said councillors are reflecting the public’s opinion without providing them the information they need to have an informed outlook.
“No one wants any reduction in service and no one wants tax increases,” he said. “It’s up to councillors to inform, not just repeat what they’re told.”
Agreed 100%. We need to look at all areas of the budget before we cut services. This is just nonsense. How can we affford to keep hiring people to serve less population? How can we justify the salaries our sunshine club receives or even council for that matter when so much of our population is not working or are the working poor. Yet services continue to be the things everyone picks on. Cut more services and there won`t be any reason for people to come here.
Please tell me if I am wrong, but is it not true that C-K Mayor, Council and Management are to represent and serve the people of C-K?
Very troubled with C-K Management, Mayor and Council
Never mind the answer, I do not like the question
Shame on Management for suggesting that an arena, scout hut or youth centre or other community structures be cut, so as to save a small amount of money, at the cost of putting a knife into the heart of a small town community. Shame on the budget process for spending so much time on such small and lesser things from a money point of view.
These items and others like them were never meant to be profit centers, but rather for the Good of the community as a whole. There seems to be a double standard, between Chatham and Chatham-Kent? If for profit or not is to be the criteria then we have a list of very expensive considerations that would be first on the list. Theatre, Annex, Bradley Centre, Rail road, an Industrial park, 6 plus figure management, you get the picture. And these and others are how many million dollars compared to?
Sorry I do not like the “budget as one item and then separate from that is, infrastructure phase in, the rate payers are not fooled, and only want to know about the bottom line, what is our cost, and how much will we have to cut, so that mayor, council and management can live their comfortable life?
To all of C-K, and you think about that.
Ho Hardy is demonstrating the degree of misunderstanding that exist exists out there around the budget process. Kind of the point of the article, I would say.
? Missunderstanding
exactly what is wrong with what was said?
I am very open too honest criticism