By Pepper Parr
December 15th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
The spin masters at city hall are doing everything they can to put the best possible spin on the budget decisions that were made yesterday afternoon.
A media announcement declared: “ City Council approves 2022 budget: 2.87 per cent overall tax increase to maintain City services and infrastructure, and address continued impacts of the pandemic.”
The statement is true – it is a fact – however it isn’t the fact that matters most to you.
You want to know how much the city increased your taxes: THAT number is 4.62% over what the taxes were last year.
That 2.87% number is the result of combining the taxes you will pay to the Boards of Education and the taxes you pay to the Region. The city collects all those taxes from you.
This is not a good budget – not just because of the size of the increase. The Mayor said it was less than the current rate of inflation – which is also true.
The media release also said: “For example, homeowners with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay an additional $111.80 per year or $2.15 per week.
When was the last time you saw a house in Burlington assessed at $500,000? Houses are now in the $850,000 range with $1 million prices showing up regularly.
The spending that the city does is the number that matters to you. And that spending increased by 4.62% over last year.
Council did manage to reduce the size of the budget Staff had presented – but by less than 1%
The five year simulation suggests that we are looking at higher tax increases for a number of years. The best Council could do was shave off less than 1% from the budget Staff gave them.
These are very tough times; everyone knows that. What we have a right to expect is straight up honest answers and information from the people we elect. That seems to be in short supply these days.
It is unusual for municipal counsellors to increase taxes in an election year.
There were a number of way this Council could have gotten the increase into the 3.5% range.
Getting what she wanted proved to be out of the Mayor’s reach.
The problem was Mayor Meed Ward could not convince her council colleagues to see things her way – All, except for ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, voted against this budget
Mayor Meed Ward called this “… a true collective effort of Council and staff in service of our community to deal with now needs and plan for our future.”
In truth it is the best this council could do given the level of acrimony between a majority of the council members and the Mayor.
Few are prepared to stand up to the Mayor and wrest the control she now has and ensure that the voices of the others are fairly heard. Councillors Stolte and Kearns need to stand up to the Mayor.
Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan chaired the Budget Committee: prevented Council members from moving motions on more than one occasion.
On just about every issue the Mayor has the full support of ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith and ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan.
The balance of the other four tend to side with Councillor Sharman who was certainly doesn’t get credit for making sure this budget fully served the people of Burlington.
Galbraith is perhaps not aware of the election race he is going to face next October. There are people in ward 3 considering giving Nisan a run for that council seat.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman with his eye on the prize
As for the Mayor – you heard it here first – Former Mayor Rick Goldring will run for Mayor in 2022. There is a substantial group that are urging him to run again. He is positioning himself for a run – whether he throws his hat in the ring – only time will tell.
Councillor Sharman will also run for Mayor and because Goldring will take votes away from Meed Ward – Paul Sharman could well be the Mayor of the city for the 2022 – 2025 term.
This terrible budget exercise can and should be seen as the beginning of the 2022 municipal election.
Before then however, there is a provincial election that will take place. There are some changes needed at that level as well.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
There are many of us hoping that the candidates running for Mayor in 2022 are the folks mentioned in your above comments. This would make for an interesting round of campaigning and the residents would quickly learn the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.
I guess as this drivel is posted as an opinion piece it is ok to be biased. But at least give a semblance of a hearing to the counter position. So having not done so I shall comment below on a number of excerpts from the editor’s piece.
“This is not a good budget – not just because of the size of the increase.”
Making a very broad statement like that requires the writer to provide I formation to substantiate the statement. Why is it a bad budget?
“The five year simulation suggests that we are looking at higher tax increases for a number of years. The best Council could do was shave off less than 1% from the budget Staff gave them.”
Seems to me the Mayor, Council and staff are being very transparent in, as you note it’s an election year, telling it as it is and not giving out a false rosy picture.
“These are very tough times; everyone knows that”
You said it. In tough times do you expect a no increase or minimal increase budget? The City cannot ignore the increased costs required to run the City and maintain services. What Mr. Editor would you have Council do?
“It is unusual for municipal counsellors to increase taxes in an election year.”
Again, you said it ! For any Councilor to take an unpopular position in an election year demonstrates the severity of the situation and that councilors are focused on the well being of the City and not on their own personal political fortunes.
“In truth it is the best this council could do given the level of acrimony between a majority of the council members and the Mayor.”
The Gazette has not to my recollection published any accounts or examples of the supposed acrimony.
“Galbraith is perhaps not aware of the election race he is going to face next October. There are people in ward 3 considering giving Nisan a run for that council seat”
Again, maybe these two councilors are not just blindly following the Mayor but perhaps believe in the positions they take just as opposed councilors believe in their positions.
“As for the Mayor – you heard it here first – Former Mayor Rick Goldring will run for Mayor in 2022”
Well, based upon the huge pile of cow manure type issues Goldring left for the present council to deal with if Goldring runs and gets elected, then this City deserves every bad thing that will for sure happen to it under Goldring. What was his slogan for development that screwed us all? Oh yes, “Grow bold” aka let developers do whatever they want.
Editor’s response: You do seem to have a problem with opinions that make you uncomfortable – if you don’t like the opinion you label it biased.
Help me with the following from you: ” Well, based upon the huge pile of cow manure type issues Goldring left for the present council to deal with if Goldring runs and gets elected, then this City deserves every bad thing that will for sure happen to it under Goldring. What was his slogan for development that screwed us all? Oh yes, “Grow bold” aka let developers do whatever they want.”
Is this a biased opinion?
As for the Grow Bold statement – it came from the planner at the time – not Rick Goldring.