Chatham Councillor Michael Bondy said last week’s Chatham-Kent budget represents the worst he’s seen since being elected.
“I’ve been in six budget deliberations and I’ve never seen one more fractured,” he said. “The inability to make any cuts – even the most menial – shows how bad it’s become.”
Bondy, along with councillors Michael Bondy, Joe Faas, Leon Leclair, Sulman, Steve Pinsonneault and David VanDamme, voted against the 1.99 per cent increase.
“I don’t believe there was any need for an increase,” he said. “We took out a pound of flesh from the taxpayers but nothing at all from the machine (municipal government).”
He said councillors are afraid to propose a cut.
“The feeling is that if I cut something you like, you’ll cut something of mine and most councillors won’t risk it.”
He said roughly half of the budget consists of wages and benefits, something council won’t even discuss.
“I’ve tried to bring it (wages) to the table and I’m told we can’t talk about it because it will affect morale of staff,” he said. “I don’t see anyone leaving if we talk about it and if they did, we’d see a line up a block long for their job.”
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“We’ll spend 40 minutes discussing a minor lifecycle item or how to turn off an outside light in Blenheim.” He said. “We try to keep everyone happy but end up disappointing everybody.”
He said council talks about the $53 increase on a home assessed at $161,000 but no one talks about the effect on commercial properties.
Commercial properties are paying upwards of $20,000 to $30,000,” he said. “If you wonder why all commercial leases in Chatham-Kent are triple net (rent, utilities and taxes), it’s because property owners can’t afford to pay them. If one tenant moves out, they’re in deep trouble.”
East Kent’s David VanDamme said he couldn’t support the budget due to cuts in planned infrastructure spending.
“We worked hard to set limits to force ourselves to spend the money needed to repair bridges and roads but as soon as we can, we cut them. We only fund 60 per cent of what’s needed for maintenance and repairs. We talk about the need to bring in tourists and then we’re going to show them a community that looks like it’s falling apart.”
He said the community has “intelligent, creative staff” that isn’t being utilized fully.
“When we say we’re going to out of the blue, close an arena, we end up fielding lots of calls from upset people when a little bit of foresight could have made the difference. Our budget ends up being more about damage control than fiscal management.”
“nothing at all from the machine (municipal government).”
Thank you yes shame on the naysayers
I have been part of hiring in C-K and can assure you that you can hire
Equal too or better that the qualifications of the current staff at half the cost
Many maybe Most us will have to cut back on our life style in 2016
Why should we keep all those C-K 6 plus figure people from sharing the cost?
what gets me is that they ran a surplus last fiscal year and yet saw the need to increase taxes anyway.
on another note, is our policy to be based on hurt feelings (or the potential of) rather than prudent fiscal management? what an F'in joke!!! everytime you place feelings above reality, the losers will be everyone involved. cut wages, cut benefits. this should be mandatory across all levels of govt. why on earth should some mediocre talented pulbic servant get all the gravy while those who struggle to pay them get the table scraps? the bankruptcy of this province cant come soon enough. municipalities will be forced to make real decisions rather than this annual dog and pony show led by cowards.