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Finance committee's report was duly considered

I thought it prudent that the public got the truth regarding this committee鈥檚 report and recommendations.

Editor: A recent letter to the editor from Robert Moats (The Times, Sept. 6) reflected on the Township Mayor鈥檚 Standing Committee on Finance and stated that council had 鈥渟taunchly rejected all of its recommendations.鈥

As a member of council, I thought it prudent that the public got the truth regarding this committee鈥檚 report and recommendations. I would suggest that the public request a copy of this, so they are clear what the final recommendations were, and they can then make informed and responsible decisions regarding its work. I might point out that the final report was not unanimously supported by the task force members.

Here are some of the recommendations and council鈥檚 response to them.

- Maintain all current service levels at today鈥檚 level. In fact, this council voted to remove over $1.4 million from the Township budget by diligently pursuing efficiencies, the capital project budget and not replacing staff. This equates into a 1.8 per cent tax saving.

-  Establish a Property Endowment Fund. This was a motion made at a public meeting in December, 2009 to complete a business case for the concept, and the mayor has done nothing to act on this and follow though.

- The airport should be established as a separate business unit and profit centre. A complete study of the 91原创 Regional Airport was undertaken by an outside professional in the field, and he recommended against this action, and to leave the model as it is.

- Undertake a review of TOL rental rates 鈥 it鈥檚 been done.

-  A vehicle fleet management review should be undertaken 鈥 done

- Implement a review of the local firefighting structure. This was done by a highly respected outside consultant.

- The Mayor鈥檚 Standing Committee on Finance should be continued. It was the committee members鈥 decision to resign in January, 2010 and council found out about it in February 2010. Council actually expected the committee to continue, but they chose otherwise.

The following are what council discussed and did not act on.

- A general tax increase of .93 per cent. This was impossible, as it would have left a taxable debt load of over $7 million at the end of the three-year term for the future generations of taxpayers in the Township. These figures are confirmed by the accountants.

No other jurisdiction locally had a tax increase anywhere near that amount, so one needs to ask why. The Township has no casino funds, no endowment funds (only Vancouver does) so a debt load was inevitable and this is not the legacy council was willing to leave. Of note is that Vancouver had a 4.2 per cent residential tax increase in 2011 (.25 per cent higher than the Township) and it has access to endowment funds.

- Maintain current wage and benefit costs at January 2009 levels. This was impossible, as wage contracts are duly negotiated in good faith at the Metro Vancouver labour relations level, and are out of our control as they apply regionally.

- Look at utilities and their associated statutory reserves, including transferring funds between reserves or between operation expenditures and capital. These recommendations were referred to legal counsel and deemed illegal to follow through with, so no action was taken.

- Use the 鈥榸ero-based鈥 budgeting process. Again this recommendation was discussed and it was determined by vote of council to continue the process as is. The question needs to be asked, why is nobody else using the 鈥榸ero-based鈥 budget process? It is not more efficient or effective in the public sector, with the GAAP rules and Community Charter rules.

- The suggestion that all property sold should go into an endowment fund. The Township has a limited inventory of surplus lands to begin with. Further, the TOL has a history of using land to gain land, either through land swaps or sell/buy arrangements. A review of all sale/purchase policies was completed by council and the policies and principles were found to be sound and legally within the boundaries of the Community Charter and the principles of common law.

Council has paid due respect to the committee鈥檚 recommendations and has implemented many of them. Some were illegal and some determined to not be functional, but clear consideration of the report was given and that needs to be understood.

Councillor Charlie Fox



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