Bilingualism at Ottawa City Hall

If you aren't upset with the manner in which City Hall is controlled, then you should be upset with the following:

On September 15, 2009 the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group reserved the Champlain room at City Hall for a discussion with Councillor Marianne Wilkinson and Councillor Alex Cullen.

The public was invited.

One of invitees carried with him a sign opposing City Hall and its methods of governing, The physical sign complied with City Hall policy, except for the fact that the sign was "not bilingual", and only written in "English"..

A security guard quickly advised the guest to get rid of it or the guest would be expelled from City Hall.

There was much discussion and disbielf by those who were heard the confrontation.

Now, I don't know about you, but this is Canada. I can speak or write in any language that I want.

In this case, I do believe that Ottawa City Hall procedures have restricted the right of its citizens.

City Councillors again let the citizens down for allowing such a thing to happen.

Bill O'Malley

Ottawa City Hall Sept 15 2009

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Text of my 5 minute introduction speech at the meeting with

Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group Chairman Ade Olumide

Discussions with Councillor Alex Cullen and Councillor Marianne Wilkinson

Ottawa City Hall

September 15,2009

Opening Statement

Bill O’Malley

Prior to my statement, I thanked Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, as she was the only Ottawa City Councillor to challenge the financial figures I presented to every City Councillor.

She and other Councillors were "shocked" with the figures I presented from my September 2008 blog.

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She then requested the City Manager and City Treasurer to check the numbers. It took City Staff the best part of one month to do so. Marianne Wilkinson forwarded to me, in writing, confirmation from those mentioned above, that indeed my presentation was correct.

This is a 100% accurate picture of the state of Ottawa financial results for the period 2000-2008

Now the following is my statement in front of Councillors, 60 or so concerned residents, CTV, the Ottawa Citizen, and CFRA.

This is my statement

Ottawa is a good city and the residents are great, but as more and more residents are realizing, this City is not living up to its potential.

Amalgamation, recommended by a previous City administration, was to make the City more efficient in its operation and save the resident taxpayer money.

As you know, that didn’t happen.

The taxpayer has and is being taken for granted. Property taxes have increased and additional User Fees have added a heavy burden to many resident families.

In order to appease the taxpayer, glowing reports have been produced by City Hall describing the progress in the City. The reports didn’t reflect the true picture.

The intrusion of City Hall into areas that are not in the sphere of basic city services is rampant.

And over time, since Amalgamation, the taxpayer is catching onto the methodology of Councillors and Senior Management. The average taxpayer wants more of a say in the way their money is spent.

As a result, you now have the formation of the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group.

The Party is over at City Hall.

There are many areas of City operations that can be improved on, but for this session, we will focus mainly on the largest expense of the City of Ottawa and that is the compensation level of its workers.

Perhaps, it is better stated as the number of employees deemed necessary to run this City, receiving a level of compensation that far exceeds the private sector. (about 40% more)

The combination of the number of employees and the compensation level is a formula for disaster to the financial soundness of the City.

The taxpayer has heard too often that compensation is comparable to other cities, the Unknown ARBITRATORS were responsible, there may be a strike if union demands are not met, the Ontario Government forced a level of service in certain city services that required more staff etc.

Well, we are not Toronto, Vancouver or Hamilton, or Windsor or Thunder Bay. Each city has its own economy and in Ottawa we have to operate this City within the confines of that which the taxpayer can afford.

This City and individual departments within it, frequently compare themselves to other Canadian cities when the end result suits there cause.

However, the “buck” stops at the Ottawa City Councillors. You authorized the wage levels and you authorized the hiring of employees.

On Amalgamation day, the city of Ottawa expensed 38.1 percent of its total revenue on employee salary, wages and benefits.

As of December 31, 2008, the level of compensation had increased to 52 percent of total revenue or $1.2 billion dollars or so.

How and why this was allowed is beyond the comprehension of the majority of taxpayers. Many responsible citizens have warned Council that they were going down a path to financial disaster.

The Ontario Municipal Act bestows the power of ruling individual municipalities to the elected Councillors. It also provides an obligation and duty on the Councillors to utilize the resident taxpayer’s money in a manner the benefits the taxpayer. This is not happening.

The Municipal Act also dictates responsibility and duties on City Council. The elected Mayor and Council have, as a body, the duty to exercise all the powers of the municipality provided to it under The Act.

And it is all about “money”.

In this regard, I want to talk about “New Revenue”. Revenue is money received by the City from property taxes, government grants, user fees and any and all other sources of revenue. The “New” refers to money received over and above revenue generated for the year 2000.

The same applies for the term “New Employee Expense”.

Of the eight jurisdictions in Ontario with “New Revenue” over 1 billion dollars during the period 2001-2007, the City of Ottawa had the highest usage of that New Revenue for New Employee Expense.

A whopping 72.24 percent!

This is according to the financial statements, but differs from the Financial Information Report where the New Employee Expense is a staggering 81 percent of all “New Revenue”.

That means that the City of Ottawa is basically “stuck” in the year 2000 as the remaining balance of New Revenue generated since amalgamation has, for the most part, only covered the additional inflationary cost of purchasing necessary materials used in maintaining the city infrastructure and other services.

The average usage of New Revenue for New Employee Expense for the other eight jurisdictions was 43.59 percent. Now Stop and Think About That Number.

Ottawa had 72.24 percent usage and the other Ontario jurisdictions had only 43.50 percent. Does this make any sense?

As mentioned earlier, Ottawa entered amalgamation with a percentage of 38.19 percent of Total Employee Expense to Total Revenue, .but increased to 47.10 percent in fiscal 2007. At the end of 2008, the percentage rose to 52 percent. Something has to “give”.

If Ottawa had maintained the percentage of the other larger Ontario municipalities, there would have been over $500,000,000 Million Dollars to look after our roads and sewers and beautify the city etc.

Or heavens forbid, Property Tax or User Fees could have been reduced. Instead, Council gave it to the employees. The taxpayer received nothing more than higher tax bills and higher User Fees.

Now let’s look at the number of employees employed by the City.

According to a list provided by Kent Kirkpatrick to Stittsville-Kanata West Councillor Shad Qadri in 2008, the City had 19,000 employees or “jobs” as Kirkpatrick described it.

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The 2008 Budget, according to Qadri, authorized 12,000 full-time equivalent employees. This information was reported in the Ottawa Citizen September 17, 2008. But again, Qadri’s Full Time Equivalent number of 12,000 was not correct.

If you want the real figures, Councillors should refer to the approved Budget and the Financial Information Report. If you don’t want to do that, The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group will provide the numbers for you.

Better still, Senior Management should provide a detailed list monthly to the taxpayers. Then, no one can run and hide.

Again, Kent Kirkpatrick indicated a level of 19,000 employees in September 2008. Kent Kirkpatrick informed resident taxpayers in the 2006 Ottawa Annual Report that there were “nearly 17,000 City Staff”. 

Even the Auditor General uses this figure in 2007 reports. Does this mean that the city added 2,000 staff in the 2007/2008 period?

The taxpayers have a right to know the authorized equivalent number of employees and normally this information is provided in the annual approved budget. However, we need to know more.

We need to know the number of full-time employees. Full Time Employees are 100 percent FTE.

We need to know the number of part-time and seasonal employees, like in the number of human bodies, and this number as related to the make up of full time equivalent or FTE.

And finally, we have to know how many full-time equivalent positions are vacant. These figures should total the authorized full time equivalent as outlined in the Approved Budget.

The majority of city employees are deemed to be conscientious in performing the duties of the job, but amalgamation and the slow growth of the City population over the past eight years does not account for the current number of employees working at the City.

A real effort must be made by Council to reduce the number employees. Senior Management can no longer stack the numbers and hide the employee numbers to the taxpayer.

And Council has the opportunity tomorrow to start to show its regard for the taxpayer dollars.

There are a number of City Departments that recently announced that they may be over Budget. The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group would like Council to send a directive to these departments informing them that in the last three months of this fiscal year, each department must find a way to balance the authorized Budget through a combination of Layoffs and reduction in spending in other expense items.

This would be the first step to ending a cover-up

 

Let’s see if Council is mature enough to take the necessary action and send the signal to all departments that the Party is Over.

2010 Council Information and Classes

Ottawa Municipal Election 2010

There are 23 wards and a mayor to be elected in 2010.

Any serious candidate (only one for each ward) willing to join a slate of candidates to take back “City Hall” for the benefit of the Taxpayer, will be provided with detailed financial information as follows:
 
A Complete and detailed breakdown of the approved “Budgets” of the departmental figures for the period 2001 to 2010

A Complete and detailed spread sheet of the Audited Financial Statements from 2001 to 2008

A Complete and detailed breakdown of all of the pertinent departmental financial information as provided for in the Financial Information Report for the period 2001 to 2008.

Reports on specific departments that are underperforming

Reports on the Employee Expense which has devoured 81% of every $1 of property tax increase since 2001 and Every Other Source of Total Revenue, including Government Grants.

Council has very little control over Senior Management at the present moment. You will be provided with the information in the Act that will allow you to direct and control City Management without interferance from other levels of government.

You will receive a copy of the Municipal Act and we will review the detail in a classroom atmosphere.

I will also offer several other “classes” for new candidates to bring them up to date on the operation of Council, the Duties and Responsibilities and the inner workings of City Hall. This is crucial in order that you can take your seat at Council, be effective and rule the City for the Taxpayer.

All of this is My Contribution if you are willing to democratically enhance the operations of the City.
 

This offer will be open to Candidates that declare their intentions before December 31, 2009.

Bill O’Malley

Contact me at wmomalley@gmail.com