2011 Draft Budget Disappointment

My preliminary glance at the 2011 Budget is one of disappointment.  It is a timid start to fulfilling Mayor Jim Watson’s responsibilities. Senior Staff are still running the show along with the unions. Tax and spending continue on the road to financial chaos.

The residents recently voted in a new Council and indicated that “change” in the direction of the fiscal operations of the City was necessary. The new members of Council had better take a hard look at the 2011 Budget and set the “change” in motion. If Jim Watson can’t do it, you sure can.

The majority of proposed new taxes only support increased salaries and benefit expenses. You might want to read some of my previous blogs on this subject. And to add insult to injury, Senior Management want to hire more employees in 2011 to add to a level of employment expense that is the worst in Ontario, even when compared with Toronto.

We should be reducing the number of employees in addition to closing down services that are not essential and, in fact, intrude on our democratic rights.

One glaring example of stupidity in the 2011 Draft Budget is the declaration of thriftiness by reducing expenses of $1 million dollars on outside legal help and external consultants. In this category, $1 million dollars is nothing but a drop in the bucket. Try $50 million or more. This is just ridiculous.

And it goes on. “$9 million in budget pressure in annual debt servicing costs associated with the replacement of transit vehicles. This pressure is entirely offset by efficiency savings in transit’s operational costs.” I mean really, does this statement make any sense?

Speaking of Transit. The department is budgeting for $12 million in Overtime Expenses. 2010 actual overtime expense is estimated at $17 million I think someone is trying to fool the taxpayer.

Do you recall a few years ago when there was an uproar from the Auditor General about overtime costs. The figure at that time for all departments was approximately $26 million. Well, the 2011 draft budget from all departments is seeking $30 million in overtime compared to a 2010 estimated expense of $36 million. This is the mentality of senior management and I guess, this one slipped by Jim Watson. I can only hope that the new Council will not let this one ride.

From my preliminary look at the numbers for all departments, the expenses remain generally “constant” as a percentage of the total pie. Senior Staff are not changing direction in any manner whatsoever.

I will have more to say on this in the coming days.

I did wonder where the 2011 budget figures were for the Library. For the Police budget numbers, I had to go to their web site. This is not appropriate.

In reality, this 2011 Draft Budget is only a partial picture of the operations of the City. It does not include the Rate Supported Budgets, Ottawa Housing, Ottawa Hydro and other operations and expenses that I have commented on previously.

We need all of the draft budgets released on the same day and approved by Council as a package. You can have your 2.45 percent property tax increase, but can you handle the 10% Rate Supported increases or Hydro Ottawa’s greedy increase.

We will be paying a lot more than 2.45% this year.

As a note of caution, residents should make themselves aware of what is going on in some of the US cities. Police and fireman layoffs, no money to pay salaries and other expenses, reduction in union wages and benefits to prevent layoffs, pension defaults and in a few cases, city bankruptcy. I mention this only to make a point that we cannot roll along like nothing has happened over the past two years and continue on our merry way. In the case of Ottawa, it is over the past 10 years. We must be prudent.

And what I see so far in the 2011 Draft Budget is not prudent.

Bill O’Malley