This letter is in reference to a story in the Sept. 3 edition of the Olds Albertan, "Council passes borrowing bylaw exceeding debt limit." Ed.
Well, well, well, we would like to have a new town shop. Put it on the credit card, but wait, our credit card is maxed out. No worries, we’ll just apply for another one and can pay it off in 2021 (maybe or maybe not, probably not.)
And why is Coun. Ryan the only councillor to vote against this borrowing bylaw?
Doesn’t it make more sense to have a plan in place for costs for the environmental studies and what they are going to reveal as well as what the existing facilities are worth? Would that not be something administration would look at first?
This is equivalent to wanting to buy a new house but not knowing what your existing house is worth, so you can plan on putting that money when you sell towards the cost of the new one.
Even the bureaucrats should have realized that a new shop and facilities would be required 10-15 years ago. Council should have started planning ahead by putting money into reserves for future projects, but I guess that didn’t happen.
You are probably thinking that’s a nice idea, but where would the money come from?
According to Lee Iacocca “there isn't a budget that you can't cut 10 per cent and not affect any programs.” Iococca was the CEO of Chrysler at the time and if you have the right people in place, you can achieve it.
Where would we cut you ask?
1. Buy good used trucks instead of leasing, (if we lease it, it doesn't show up on the balance sheet).
2. Run industrial equipment like industry and not replace it every two to three years.
3. Look at personnel who have jobs that are redundant or not required and/or put two jobs together — like the fellow in the truck that drives around town all day with the building inspector’s job, because neither one should be a full-time job.
4. Cut the flower budget in half for beautifying Highway 27. This would only require one vehicle and one person to water. Currently we have two people and two one-ton trucks rigged for this purpose. If this budget was cut, entering the town on Highway 27 would still look fine and not overdone.
5. Learn from Calgary’s mistakes and not spend money on sculptures or art that most taxpayers don’t like and feel is a waste of taxpayers' money. Put that money into fixing the splash park or other departments that need it. Stop using the ATCO gas yearly franchise fee solely for the purpose of the arts. Use it wherever it’s needed or put it in reserves for future infrastructure projects.
6. After taking a quick look at the capital budget for 2018 and 2019 it shows a $20,000 expense for a pressure washer in both years. That's going to be one heck of a pressure washer.
7. Also, looking at the operating budget, one item that sticks out is line item 12-01 office of the CAO. It's increased from $574,070 in 2017 to $1,072.029 in 2019; nearly doubled in two years. Why such a huge increase?
Trust me, if you want to find more, just go line by line through the budget.
When I asked a councillor today about the taxes going up $85 for the average household, she said it depends on your assessment and the mill rate. So when they tell you that’s all it’s going to be, that would be another WAG (wild ass guess).
Where the hell is the fiscal responsibility of council?
Things in the real world are not like things in the bureaucratic world. New housing starts have been down in the past two years. The economy of Alberta has taken a beating; just ask some of the businesses in town.
A drive through the downtown business core will confirm tough times. There are vacant buildings, but lots of publicly funded businesses.
So council, knowing all that, says "let’s add another $10,000,000 to the debt." By following through with doing that, you can discourage people and businesses from moving to Olds by raising the property taxes again to a new high.
Maybe it’s time for council to look at rolling back or holding the line on spending due to the current economy, as other municipalities have done, until it improves.
The taxpayers of Olds trusted and voted for you people to do your job by being fiscally responsible with our money. So please start doing it.
Dick Stauffer,
Olds
