By Staff
December 1st, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Councillor Rory Nisan
“A lot of frankly unacceptable comments were made today by a delegation, disrespecting our excellent City of Burlington staff. Not only were they unfair but also misinformed. At the time I was focussed on the written submission and should have spoken up.
“These comments were totally unreflective of the experiences the mayor and I had with two budget meetings in my ward where residents were engaged and thoughtful. In my meeting we worked together to look for savings to fund local road resurfacing, which I was able to add to the budget after the meeting.
“Bottom line: I will work with any of the 99.9% of residents who follows the golden rule and treats everyone respectfully.”
Just the facts
BRAG – Burlington Residents’ Action Group:
Facts are facts.
– Burlington is increasing revenue from property taxes by 8.3% (as shown on page 17 of the budget book as the “Net City Tax Levy”).
We specifically compared tax increases, not tax rates.
While residents in Burlington have to talk in whispers and hushed tones so as to not offend a member of staff or council. In our H.O.C it is apparently ok for Minister of Immigration Marc Miller to use potty mouth street language to chastise the leader of the opposition telling him to “grow a pair”. Is our current MP Karina Gould ok with that? Because I am not.
Editor’s comment: Get a grip. It was a great retort. Mind you it wouldn’t apply (No Pepper – don’t complete that sentence.)
Requesting someone to be “nice” especially in the context of a debate, delegation or business discussion is code for control of speech by the left. It is also used to demonize the messenger.
Having said that, and given that I’m certainly not a leftist, what was not “nice” were the tax increases that we’ve been subject to the last few years (and the manipulation of survey results to justify those increases).
Fantastic work by Eric and the BRAG team!
Absolutely right Michae particularly re “demonizing”. We must speak out about this repeated tactic whenever a delegate hits sore spots and the councillors as individuals or a group use this tactic.
An example being when we were publicizing the fact that there is no public list available of the equipment our $60 million gift (actual cost $84 m and still an annual budget tax levy of $2.6 m) to JBH purchased Councillor Kearns asked during our delegation question time were we aware that our numerous questions of staff was affecting the efficiency of the Budget presentation.
Our answer was no, we have been encouraged to seek information no longer on line from Clerk’s Dept staff (who in one case directed us to Finance). We then asked Councillor Kearns to provide us with a record of the questions she was referencing prior to Sharman finally ruling her behaviour out of order. Nothing was forthcoming and neither has the list of equipment we purchased that Burlington municipal taxpayer began financing in 2009 and according to staff will be coughing up $2.6 m for a few years yet.
A direct question to Sharman who voted for this Municipal gift that is the responsibility of the hospital foundation and not the municipality has yet to receive a response. Next step if there is a continued refusal to ensure the transparency we are entitled to will have to be a freedom of info request which should not be necessary. Council had a responsibility to ensure they knew what was bought as per a signed agreement and we deserve to have Municipal Act required transparency prior to the 2026 budget.
“A lot of frankly unacceptable comments”. For further clarity would councillor Nisan or The Gazette care to share the alleged unacceptable comments publicly so the 99.9% of us can read or hear them for themselves. From my observations, the delegation rules of engagement read before each meeting set out unacceptable behaviour and the chair is tasked with handling the behaviour. Are we looking at thin skin, facts or innuendo.
Editor’s note: Nisan’s problem was with the Stern delegation. He could have interrupted the delegation by advising the Chair that he wanted to raise a point of order. This is pure think skin folks
Since Councillor Nisan likes “facts” so much here are some for him to ponder:
1) There is probably no one in this City who has done as much research, is as well-informed, or possesses as much detailed insight and understanding of this community’s finances relating to the 2025 budget as Eric Stern. The fact that he raised numerous errors in the City’s preliminary budget numbers speaks to his analysis.
2) Having worked very closely with Eric as a member of BRAG over the past nine months I can attest to his integrity, honesty and commitment to the truth.
3) CoB’s calculation of annual tax increases strains credulity. 8.9% is a much closer reflection of reality.
4) At the budget consultation meetings there were multiple concerns and suggestions made by numerous citizens, including serious questions and issues raised by people such as Jim Barnett, Lynn Crosby and Caren Burcher delegations. Funny how all those problems, issues and concerns just suddenly evaporated into mid-air. I guess the city only likes engagement when it takes the form of blind acquiescence.
Yes Councillor Nisan: you should have spoken up, but not about chastising Eric Stern. You should have been asking some very poignant questions and demanding answers from city hall staff about all sorts of expenses and priorities, just the way BRAG did! Don’t worry though. BRAG isn’t going away anytime soon.
I’ve gone back through my delegation and the only number, singular, I did not get from a city document, an on-the-record council meeting, or a pre-budget consultation meeting was the population number I used.
On November 18th Leah Bortolotti spoke, in council chambers and on video, about 6.7 million people visiting the website annually. The 2025 Burlington budget states on page 48 “our website—with its 1.5 million annual users”. I stated that only 200,000 people live in Burlington. I may have misrepresented the population of the city. The population is difficult to track, it’s not like a website where software keeps track of the number of visitors and users for you. I publicly apologize for any misrepresentation of the population number.
Eric’ Stern’s Delegation was factual and the figures he quoted were found in the Proposed 2025 Property Tax Budget. Anyone can review this Budget on the City of Burlington website at https://Burlington.ca
If Ward 3 Councilor, Rory Nisan didn’t like what he heard being delegated, he should not be “blaming the messenger” but, he should be blaming the city Staff and the Mayor who put this Budget together.
“Facts are Facts”.
whah whah whah
councillors with their big boy pants on often experience tension when facts or data are presented in a way that makes him/her uncomfortable, especially if those facts reflect poorly on their decisions, actions, or performance, but the response is to engage in further discussion to clarify facts ……. not whine
So you got your feathers ruffled, I just re-read the delegation and the questions were more than fair, maybe you shouldn’t test your staff’s numbers in a public forum, try having a sit down with some taxpayers who know what they’re talking about, they would more than likely do it for free, then go public.