“OK, so you’ve panned the BTF’s report. If you had been a on the BTF, what ideas/programs/solutions would you have advocated? Please include sources and numbers. Looking forward to your reply.

This challenge came in a comment to my post on the Cobourg News site. We are happy to respond.

Firstly, as we reported the Budget Task Force (BTF) report was very light on figures heavy on statements. This report came as a response to one of his Strong Mayor Powers (SMP) diktats (Cambridge Dictionary – an order that must be obeyed, or the act of giving such an order) – “The next budget shall be one of 5% inclusive”. As part of that order he established with great fanfare the BTF. (read about it here)

Sorry for the long preamble Bryan but my answer needs context. If I had been successful in getting a seat on the BTF I would have insisted, after the third meeting – enough discussion already get to action – that we put actual numbers on the recommendations. 

For Example: Recommendation #8 – Users fees is the only recommendation that gives an actual number to back up the recommendation – “In 2025 Dollars an increase from 16.9% to 20% equates to a $1.3million greater User Fee funding” However this claim might be dubious if the Parks and Rec user fees cause the non-residents to review their participation in Cobourg programmes. Also if the Planning review fees (#16) are being outsourced because of the lack of Planning Review employees then we are already saving that money by not paying wages, beside the full recovery from developers means we don’t get that money anyway – so tell us how many Planning employees we can do without and the consequent savings. So $1.3million is optimistic but it at fits my ambition of having real numbers to work with. In fact if you you look at the complete recommendations only #15 – close the Centennial Pool is an actual recommendation to cut in the budget. But, $140+K is a pittance but hey it’s a saving backed by figures. Stopping the grants to the Pickle-Ballers and the Skate-Park users is meaningless as the money may be committed but not spent – no impact there, unless you count a trickle from the “Unfunded Liability” line item.

I would also suggest that the recommendation #35 The beach recommendations may also lead to costly unintended consequences. If the Town is going to implement charges to use the beach then consumers will question if such a purchase guarantees safety. As the Town removed Life-Guards from the beach a few years ago we should expect liability problems as more safety is demanded by those purchasing the passes. Higher Insurance costs perhaps? Also where is the land to build more parking spaces?

But to answer the second part of the question what would have I recommended – I would have put out cuts to programmes and delivered the budget request. Given the Mayor a 4% budget and then he has to defend the cuts to the Citizens – perhaps proving that the Citizens, as a whole not just the whiners, may not want a 4% budget.

I would have cut some of the Town programmes – the Communications department for one – are we any more informed now that we spend many Dollars on a website that is not efficient and Press Releases put out by a Mayor that lives on photo-ops. Does the Mayor need an Office Assistant/Executive Director – he’s the first to get one and is his workload any greater than his predecessors? We do like the recommendation to combine HR departments in the Municipality but doubt if it saves money in the long run – amalgamation usually doesn’t.

I would review the Transportation Policies of the Police Department. Why do we have so many vehicles in the Department, each with its own fuel bill and insurance liability. The Public Works vehicle policy would be examined as well. Why does the Supervisor need a full-sized 4*4 to drive around and inspect the facilities. Why do we buy new vehicles – we can get ‘off-lease’ vehicles 20% cheaper. It should be noted that years ago the winter operations of the town were outsourced but the vendors failed to be responsive the the Town’s needs. Besides, unless you outsource all of the maintenance operations the Town would have equipment sitting unused for half the year. That’s not efficiency! 

Talking about ‘outsourcing’ only means that you eliminate Union Labour rates, Does the Town really want to engage in ‘Union-Busting’ to save a few bucks? We do object to the statement that the employees of the Marina, Concert Hall, Venture 13 Bldg. and the Community Centre lack specialised knowledge to run these facilities and therefore should be replaced by people who do. What experts are we talking about Mr. Dexter and where are they?

The excellent work of the BTF, although I disagree with it, is to acknowledge the “Yuge” problem of the “Unfunded Liability”. This is a landmine buried many years ago and never really tackled properly. Previous Councillors have attempted to be financially responsible in the past by establishing “Debt-Limits”, come on down Tony Farren in the late 80s. These never really worked because of the “Debenture Window” – the amount of Debt that can be financed by debentures laid out in the Municipal Act. So the amount of Capital Financing depended on how much could be debentured in any one year. For instance if the Town issued a big debenture one year then the next years debenture can only be up to the limit of the window. This problem has hindered proper financial planning for years.

Selling off the family silver to get out of a hole usually never works. For example in order to sell off LUSI the Town would have to accept a lower selling price because of the “note” that LUSI owes the Town. Will the discounted price and the repaid note be full market price who knows but do we want to really find out? Selling the Arenas will be a hard sell; will we ever get market value?

Unfunded Liability will have to be paid off or deferred and nobody appears to know how. All we know is that it will not be driven down by a 1% Capital Fund Levy – but it’s a start.

In the light of the Mayor’s Diktat – “Show me how to get a 4% budget!” I stand by my position that the BTF failed to do that! Had I been on the BTF I would have dissented from the report.