If money was no object...
Council collects taxes to pay for services. The annual budget reflects Council's priorities. Council priorities should reflect citizens' needs.
Since citizens do not always agree on their needs and their needs evolve over time, Council must make tough short-term and long-term decisions.
Council will spend approximately $70 million in 2021 on infrastructure: water, wastewater, roads, sidewalks, buildings, equipment, etc.
In 2021, Council will spend $162 million on police, fire, garbage collection, public transit, recreation and culture.
Each one of these services is important, but are some more important than others? Each citizen will have a different answer.
I believe the City has nine essential services: police, fire, streets, sidewalks, water, wastewater, parks, trails and economic growth.
I also believe that Council does not spend enough on these basic services. As a result, the infrastructure gap has increased since 2016. This is bad.
Policing is imposed by provincial legislation. We must provide policing. All other services are optional.
However, fire protection is also an essential service, even if it is not imposed by law, because we must protect life and property.
In my opinion, economic growth is also a basic service because it generates the revenues needed to provide municipal services.
The City needs competent staff to support our local businesses and to convince companies from away to move here, in order to generate revenues.
Water, wastewater, streets, sidewalks, parks and trails are basic services because it would be impossible to let private companies operate such systems for a fee. It would not be in our best interest to let private companies own and operate their own streets and sidewalks or water and wastewater systems.
However, it is possible to hire private companies to plow and pave streets and sidewalks and to manage the water and wastewater systems.
The City could also let private companies collect our waste and dispose of it and charge user fees to our residents and businesses.
Private companies could own recreational facilities like arenas, basketball courts, softball fields and soccer fields and compete for clients and bookings. The City owns several arenas and other recreational facilities that could be sold to and operated by for-profit companies or not-for-profit organisations.
I do not propose that we privatize our garbage collection and recreational infrastructure. Au contraire! But I do think we need to look at this.
I commit to conducting a thorough review of all City services before 2025.
The review, based on citizen input, would determine (1) what services the City must provide and why, (2) if the City should provide additional services, (3) if the City invests enough in its basic services, and (4) how the City could provide existing and additional services more effectively and efficiently.