What did we tell you?

Here’s a quote from the article  in a recent Advertiser by single W….

According to MacLean, an increase of $17 million in assessment was a boon to the town budgeting process this year. [emph ours]

Why? Why should this affect expenses at all? WE HAVE SAID IT BEFORE AND WILL SAY IT AGAIN – rising ( or decreasing) assessments should have no effect on whether it costs more (or less) for the administration to manage town affairs via the budget.

We are disappointed in MacLean – we thought he might turn out to be above this sort of deception. Or was he was misquoted?

But the town keeps the rate the same ( to snow taxpayers into thinking taxes aren’t rising)  and reap the windfall. But tax rates are not taxes any more than assessment is revenue.

Residents ( and Councillors) should be alert to this trick and ask Councillors (and staff)  to justify every  dollar increase in the cost of running the town.

Acadia might be trying to instill critical thinking but it is noticeably absent in the thinking of our councillors  and – it seems- most voters.

A letter on the Property Valuation Services Corp

This letter in the Chronicle Herald this morning is worth noting. Since it may eventually disappear from the “Voice of the People” we copy it here in full to preserve it for ratepayers future reference.

Not-so-minor details

In a Feb. 25 opinion piece, Kathy Gillis, CEO of PVSC (Property Valuation Services Corporation), says, “All property owners are assigned a PIN number for their assessment account and by using the PIN, details of their accounts are readily accessible.”

In fact, the information is limited and what is provided is not helpful in an appeal. One page of the online report is a map of the property, a second page deals only with the CAP program, and one-half of the third page is devoted to the address. None of this is useful. The remainder is sketchy, at best.

My own for 2011 and 2012 had significant differences. The construction went from “average” to “good,” the area from 2,060 sq. ft. to 2,017 sq. ft., and the garage that was detached in February 2011 became attached in February 2012. No work was done on the house since 2008 so it must have been magic.

The PRC report, on the other hand, is usually six or more pages with breakdowns of the assessment and dwelling details such as number of fixtures, heating details and the quality grade.

The important thing that is not available is the comparators report, which Ms. Gillis neglected to discuss. One has to ask for it and may have to wait months to get it. Few know it exists. I had to request mine from PVSC’s freedom of information officer (although I did not have to file a formal request).

[I have left off the letter writers name, although you may see it now at source]

The Assessment Office, which was supposed to be at arm’s length from  municipal government, was never very independent, prone as it was to reassessment requests from various town administrations,  but now with this corporate model ( which they copied from other provinces where it has proved to be a disaster for taxpayers), the municipalities are both clients and overseers of the “service” (Roy Brideau used to be on the Board). Note that the PVSC gets paid partly on the basis of assessment value. That is, the higher the assessments the more they get paid by the municipality. Isn’t that a sweet deal?

One thing is sure, taxpayers are not served well. The formula or information the PVSC uses to come to a figure is a complete mystery and prone to all kinds of adjustments behind closed doors, always to the taxpayers detriment.

Municipal administrations consider assessments to be their “revenue stream” (which they are not and should not be) and they want to keep it flowing at higher and higher amounts.

Please follow the rest of the links from our past posts on this subject (some were already linked specifically in the above text ) – we are tired of repeating ourselves.

Wolfville’s Wild spending

Another in the series of submissions from David Daniels also available in The Mud Creek News.This one is on a subject we have been complaining about for years.

ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS GONE WILD?

Compare what Wolfville pays in “Administrative” costs, according to the Town’s recently produced Consolidated Financial Statements, dated March 31, 2011, to the same line item for the Towns of Antigonish and Kentville.  I’ve included the most recent, 2006 StatsCan population figures. 

General Administrative – Administrative Costs:

Wolfville (pop. 3772)      —-     $857,044

   

Antigonish (pop. 4236)   —-     $504,790

Kentville (pop. 5815)      —-     $606,408

Dig a little deeper.  For Wolfville only, in the budget year 2003-04, the cost of administrative salaries was $234,862; for 2008-09, $329,850; and for the present fiscal year, administrative salaries are at $407,000.  That is an increase of over 73% in an 8 year span.

David A. Daniels

Sound familiar?

Does any of this remind you of Wolfville?

“It’s a ticking tax time bomb,” … Read the rest

We are just a microcosm of Toronto.

Our Debts

In case any Canadians are feeling smug about our debt situation compared to US debt woes we offer this cautionary article to consider:

Our federal debt is about 35% of GDP while the U.S. passed 100% on Tuesday, and Ottawa’s deficits are only 2% of GDP rather than Washington or London’s staggering 10%. But let me try to wipe the smile off your face.

For starters, a more realistic on-book number for Canadian public debt is over 80% of GDP. That’s what the IMF gets by including provincial as well as federal debt (for instance, Quebec’s $238 billion) and such “hard” unfunded liabilities as public sector pension funds.

An even bigger reason for worry is soft unfunded liabilities for things such as the Canada Pension Plan and the Canada Health Act. In 2006 the Chief Actuary of Canada formally estimated the unfunded liabilities of the CPP at $620 billion. …Then there’s infrastructure.

Read the rest. And what about Municipal debt? So you had better listen up Municipal councillors everywhere, and especially in spendthrift Wolfville. Are you listening to Councillor Irving or ignoring him?

AIMS Municipal Performance Report

The 2nd Annual Nova Scotia Municipal Performance Report is out. It is ” a compilation of information from 2006 to 2008. It reveals the performance of municipal governments at fulfilling their responsibilities.”

In the first chart 55 municipalities are listed from most effective to least.  See how far you have to scroll down before you find Wolfville which is ranked 46th out of 55!  More detailed analysis follows where the municipalities are listed in alphabetical order.  Here is the link to the report (PDF)

 

UPDATE -a detail from one of the informative charts:

June 17, 2011

IRONY

Paul Withers for CBC TV does a story this evening on the financial stresses on NS towns with Wolfville as an example, streets that need paving, work NOT being done, including an interview with Keith Irving going on about the infrastructure deficit and then the visuals switch to show where work IS being done  –  The mayor’s Clock Park, where no expense is spared. Did CBC notice the contradiction?

We’ll add a link  to the segment if we find one. For now this will have to do.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the CBC news at 6  for June 17th segment: The Wolfville clip is at about 7:50 onward.

Wolfville’s future

If you wish to see into Wolfville’s future, just look at Bridgetown.

The mayor and entire town council in Bridgetown have resigned en masse in the face of a police investigation into financial irregularities at town hall.

You have perhaps read articles on Bridgetown’s financial woes, built over many years of budget neglect, we don’t doubt. But is there any hint of the depth of their financial trouble in their (no doubt expensive) sustainability study   done little more than a year ago? Wolfville had one too. Such studies seem to be signs of desperation, as if talk was action of import.

We were intrigued to hear (via CBC radio this morning) that there was a Bridgetown blogger, The Reader; he had little to say to enlighten CBC listeners on the sources of the Town’s troubles.

The Bridgetown Council seems mystified.

“Essentially, we’re stepping aside to make way for people with greater expertise.” [more]

That’s what you get for leaving things in the hands of a (highly paid) CAO, now nowhere on the scene. Were no Councillors aware, before this, of the situation? Awareness came upon them en masse?

So now it is up to the Province to do a forensic audit, closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Municipal Relations Minister John MacDonell said staff told him a couple of months ago about Bridgetown’s financial issues, and a department staffer was dispatched last week to work there two days a week.

But with the resignations, two people from the department will now go there for a few days, “and then we’ll just see where things go,” MacDonell said.

Neither he nor Cameron could recall a municipal government in Nova Scotia ever resigning en masse.

But should the Province wait until Towns are in default? A Municipal auditor has been suggested in the past, a suggestion we have called for on these pages for some time.

The new auditor could start with (Canada Lives Here) Wolfille. Would they find everything  in apple pie order? Or not?

Notice the no notice

Although we will be posting minimally from now on, we will be happy to publish submissions from Wolfville residents, such as this message from David Daniels

IS A SPECIAL BUDGET MEETING WORTHY OF NOTICE

If you go to the Town’s website’s  Homepage, you’ll find bulk of the screen (at least on my computer screen) is taken up by a section entitled: “NEWS – NOTICES.”  Today, March 29th, at 2:20 p,m., half the space is blank and the other half contains a notice concerning a Volunteer of the Year award ceremony to be held on March 31st.

If you scroll down, you’ll find a section entitled “Town Meeting (Calendar).”  Under that heading there is a notice of a special town meeting scheduled for March 30th. The notice [on the main page Ww] does not mention that the meeting concerns the budget.

The Town recently spent, I recall, $20,000.00, for consultants to help write a Town communication policy.

David A. Daniels

 

FSTF public input meeting reaction

A letter from a Wolfville resident concerning the recent Fiscal Sustainability Task Force meeting, received via e-mail.

Memo to: Mayor Stead and Council

I am writing to enlarge on a point I made last night at the public input meeting about the Fiscal Sustainability Report. Also, I’ll make other comments.

But firstly let me congratulate the town, and in particular Mr. Irving, for the report which must have taken considerable research, time and thought.

I appreciate the problem we face and also I realize residents may be asked to pay increased taxes. But the town must lead the way. It must first tighten its spending until it hurts. Furthermore, your resolve must be reflected in the current budget if you intend to raise our taxes, already very high.

Here is just one example of living beyond our means: in the last ten years the town has increased very significantly its donations to institutions. This has proven a very slippery path and we’re sliding more every year. Also, although I am effectively contributing through taxation, I’m unable to take advantage of any tax deduction. Furthermore, you may be supporting causes I may not identify with.

You need to firmly cap this expense and reduce or even stop contributions as well as freeze growth in the number of causes asking for support. As an alternative, you and Council might set the example by making personal contributions and encouraging the public to follow your example through appeals.

There must be other areas where the town can achieve savings. But it’s impossible for residents to see through the maze. For example, expense budgets should be based on actual figures for the previous year, but instead, we see an irrelevant (last year’s) budget. Why?

With respect, in budgeting we should be comparing items with actual results for the first nine months of the previous year, plus an estimated final quarter (which we’re now in). This is basic and it’s easy. I negotiated budgets for over 30 bank branches for a dozen years, and what I‘m suggesting is straightforward and transparent. With actual numbers for the nine months already known, whole year projections should be very accurate.

What is happening is not transparent and, unfortunately, raises suspicions. I have been saying to Council for years that we need more transparency and straight talk. How else can we buy into further tax increases? An absolutely necessary step in this direction is to present figures at the upcoming budget meeting with the above prominently in mind. The town needs to stop producing murky figures which even Council members cannot evaluate responsibly.

Only if at the upcoming budget meeting the town is seen to be tightening its belt as prudently as possible and presenting clear figures, would I be satisfied and willing to climb aboard.

Also, as someone pointed out last night there’s no need to panic. Let’s take time to do this right.

Thanks for considering the above,

Larry Lynch

Related: See also (ex Councillor) Bob Wrye’s thoughts on the budget method contained here in a comment on a previous post.