{"id":18637,"date":"2017-02-21T16:46:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T21:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=18637"},"modified":"2017-02-22T08:43:35","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T13:43:35","slug":"budget-bullshit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/budget-bullshit\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget Bullshit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"GreedyThe first question you have to ask after following Collingwood Council’s sloppy and inept budget process<\/a> is “Where did the money go?” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the second question you have to ask, “Are they really<\/em> that dense?” Yes, but let’s start with the first question.<\/p>\n

Back when he promoted dismantling the water utility from its partnership with Collus-PowerStream (CPS) and taking the utility under town control – a process that has proven a disaster for the town – the interim CAO promised we’d see a savings of $750,000 a year. But now the town is trying to privatize those water services by selling them to a for-profit corporation from Alberta, that “savings” vanished from the recent budget. Where did it go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 2017 budget, that promised “savings” wasn’t even raised by The Block, in part because they were all so bemused and befuddled by the parade of numbers they couldn’t keep up with any of the current stuff, let alone savings promised more than a year ago – promises they swallowed hook, line, and sinker.*<\/span><\/p>\n

Where did it go?<\/strong> But that’s not all you should worry about in the budget.<\/p>\n

There is a $280,000 “contingency” for running the IT services that used to be provided by CPS via the shared services agreement. That’s just the start of the IT expenses, by the way; it’s only the amount required to cover the remaining six months of 2017 after CPS stops providing the services (end of June). And it doesn’t count the costs of the administration hiring its sole-sourced consultant out of Barrie to manage the transition (and who may be given the management contract without an RFP). Nor does it include the cost of hiring the third person that will be required for the full transition, or the cost of all the necessary hardware and software.<\/p>\n

Here’s what CPS charged the town for those IT services the past five years:
\nYear Supervision Technical    Annual Total
\n     \/Oversight  Support
\n2016 $34,718.52  $114,090.02  $148,808.54
\n2015 $27,774.84  $101,435.87  $129,210.71
\n2014 $27,097.44  $108,129.66  $135,227.10
\n2013 $26,436.43  $110,554.53  $136,990.96
\n2012 $25,666.44  $119,700.42  $145,366.86<\/code>
\nSo a little basic math tells me that the town plans to spend almost double for half a year what CPS charged for a FULL year. And a full year of great service that went above and beyond any contractual agreement. How is that<\/em> good fiscal management?<\/p>\n

This is but a snapshot of how inefficient and expensive this mess has been so far. It’s going to get a lot<\/em> messier and more expensive next year. But these extra costs weren’t raised during the discussions because of The Block’s slavish kowtowing to the administration.<\/p>\n

Add that $280K to the mysteriously missing $750K and you have MORE THAN $1 MILLION of your taxes wasted or missing in this year alone. Imagine how much MORE it will cost us when the town takes over the billing and the mailing services<\/a> at the end of 2017 (currently provided by CPS). We’ll need MORE staff, more hardware, more software… more unnecessary expenses sloughed onto the taxpayers.<\/p>\n

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Expect those costs to triple<\/strong> by the end of 2018. All because of The Block. Now you see why The Block is eager to sell our water services to an Alberta-based corporation now: they want to avoid the embarrassment of having their miserably inept financial management made public in the 2018 election year.<\/p>\n

Add onto that more than $500,000 already spent on sole-sourced lawyers and consultants hired to pursue the administration’s obsessive witch hunt for imaginary wrongdoing and on The Block’s mad vendettas. Then predict the hundreds of thousands of dollars about to be spent on legal challenges to stop the hospital redevelopment**<\/span>, the airport redevelopment and, of course, to promote the sale of the town’s CPS share and the privatization of the water and wastewater services. The legal and consulting feels spent to fuel personal agendas this term will cost taxpayers millions.<\/p>\n

So to recap: millions of your tax dollars already wasted by this group. Sole-source contracts handed out like party favours, taxpayers’ money spent faster than a drunken sailor on leave in a brothel beside a rum factory. And I haven’t even got to the interim CAO’s salary (higher than that of the premier of Ontario’s) and the unlimited expense account for gallivanting around the country The Block granted “Senator” Jeffrey. Back to the budget…<\/p>\n

Yet we’re being told that there is no<\/em> tax increase in 2017. Well, we all know that’s codswallop. The story in the Collingwood Connection<\/a> has the headline, “No tax increase for Collingwood, assessment will lead to higher bills” and in the Empty-prize Bulletin<\/a> it reads, “No increase in taxes in Collingwood.”<\/p>\n

Both are wrong<\/strong>. And if the local media did their jobs or paid attention, they’d know better. First, this council applied a 0.75% levy to your property taxes that gets added on EVERY year. It’s a tax<\/strong>, so it counts. Second, the Simcoe County levy<\/a> is going up 2% so we’re already at 2.75% increase. That’s about $100 a year for the average home, right there.<\/p>\n

But the idea that your taxes will go up just because of increased assessment is sheer poppycock. Municipalities multiply the assessment by a “mill rate” (a percentage) to get the expected taxes. When the assessment goes up, but the taxes are supposed to remain the same, the mill rate normally goes down to account for the difference. Plus we have growth which brings in more money.<\/p>\n

It seems – if the stories are correct – Collingwood isn’t adjusting the mill rate low enough to account for the assessment increase. And that, in my analysis, is a TAX INCREASE. They’re just trying to pawn the blame off on the assessment: it’s MPAC’s fault. Or maybe it’s yours for allowing your house to be worth more.<\/p>\n

The point is: if the town wanted to keep a zero tax, it would lower the mill rate and kill the levy. But instead, we get fake news about “no” increases. I call bullshit. Your taxes are going up. Again.<\/p>\n

(There was a public meeting called to allow people to speak up about the budget, but it attracted only three people. Perhaps that’s because it was advertised in a local newspaper whose short journey from printer to recycling bin is seldom sullied by any readership…)<\/p>\n

The town’s own budget – the amount of money it plans to spend – continues to escalate out of control. In 2014, it was $27,047,195. In 2015, it grew to $27,753,013 and in 2016 to $28,866,092. Now it’s risen to $30,451,717! That’s an increase of more than $3.4 million in three years, or 12.6%!<\/p>\n

But that’s just what the town wants for itself. The town also collects for the school boards and the county. The totals are actually much higher:<\/p>\n