By D. D. Rennick, North Bay.
North Bay just passed a major milestone!
Beginning in 2019 the average wage and benefit package of city employees will be over $100,000 per year. This represents an annual taxpayer burden of $41.5 million. If this doesn’t stick in your craw, it should. Taxpayers may be excused if they don’t share in the celebration of this event. This figure does not include the agencies, boards, and commissions such as the police department, library and Health Unit.
Given that there are scarcely any positions at city hall with a clearing rate of over $100,000, this compensation level is unjustifiable. According to the last census, the average North Bay family income is less than $60,000. During the past eight years, city wages have risen by twice the rate of inflation. These compensation levels are unsustainable and indefensible. This situation is a direct result of previous council members, many of whom are still here, neglecting to protect the interests of taxpayers.
The deputy mayor has suggested that we need a 7.93% increase in the tax levy in order to maintain services. This budget is clearly not about maintaining services but about continuing to sustain wage level increases. Aside from immediately freezing wages where possible, the first thing council should do is wait for the actual figures from 2018 to be supplied and then base any 2019 budget figures on actual results rather than estimates made 12 months ago.
This year’s initial tax increase has come in at 7.93%. Looking at the budget details reveals a number of very questionable items.
The suggested hiring of a communications officer is of zero benefit to taxpayers at any juncture.
With a shrinking population and a council the same size as it always has been, why is North Bay hiring a deputy clerk? There is no pressing need and this position provides no benefit to taxpayers.
Similarly, does the addition of a by-law enforcement officer really seem like an urgent need?
A full time “Financial Reports Coordinator” is being added following the recent implementation of the municipal accommodation tax. How much work can receiving monthly cheques from city hotels entail? With 23 people already employed in the financial services department, one would think they could find someone with a couple of hours free time every month for this duty.
They have also added another employee to the Economic Development department. This department has had a yearly budget of over a quarter of a million dollars including a $543,000 payroll for five employees. Has anyone ever read a report detailing the actual benefits that this department is providing?
North Bay also has a separate department known as Community Service Administration. The budget is $242,000 with $197,000 being wages for one manager. The stated purpose of this department is to provide overall leadership and direction for other community service departments. The question is why community service departments, all of whom have managers, would require another layer of management to provide leadership? Isn’t that what the city CAO’s job entails?
Additionally, the mandated position of integrity officer has been budgeted at $150,000. Based on the vocal protestations heard in the past whenever the integrity of any council member has been questioned, one would suspect there wouldn’t be any need for funds to be collected. In any event, this line item is a perfect example of when reserve funds could be used if necessary.
The $1 million to be collected from taxpayers for Invest North Bay based on a letter containing two paragraphs is outrageous.
Collecting $200,000 in internal interest is ridiculous and simply cash that will go directly from taxpayers pockets into city bank accounts.
A $206,502 item called “Contingency fund” which purports “to absorb reasonable levels of fluctuations expected for a budget of this magnitude” is also included in the budget. I presume the $46.5 million in discretionary reserves accumulated at the end of 2017 was not quite enough to do the job! The list goes on and on.
The 2019 capital budget includes a laundry list of capital projects totaling $22 million. After long term borrowing and federal tax dollar contributions, the amount remaining for taxpayers to pay is $10.2 million dollars which is an increase of $3.7 million over last year. Repairs to infrastructure are a priority and should go ahead but the level of and cost of additional projects is unsustainable. This $10.2 million capital levy coupled with principal and interest payments on existing debt of $17.8 million will require $18 million from taxpayers this year. These figures do not include the water and wastewater capital levy totalling $8.5 million which has already been added to water bills.
The list is too aggressive and must be trimmed. Collecting $1 million to begin funding for a new police station is one prime candidate.
We have big financial problems here in North Bay but not because our tax increases have been too low. Tax increases over the past eight years have averaged 3.5% and the deputy mayor’s inaccurate statements that they were 1.5% to 2% indicate a serious misunderstanding of the facts. I suggest that our problems over the past eight years are mainly due to an appalling lack of financial knowledge resulting in decisions being made that negatively affect citizens. Until we address those problems, taxpayers can resign themselves to receiving less and less value for taxes paid.
D. D. Rennick CPA, CA
