Municipal finances are not well managed. We can do better. We must do better.
Since 2016, City Council has made many questionable financial decisions with your money.
Within weeks of being sworn in, Mayor Arnold and Councillors Léger, Lawrence, Boudreau, Turner, McKee and Thériault voted to increase their own salaries by 35% in one shot. Councillors Butler, Pellerin and Crossman cast the only opposing votes.
Recently, the majority of Council voted to provide the Avenir Centre management company $850,000 to offset losses caused by the pandemic. The company did not ask for this money. It has billions of dollars in assets. Regardless, Council decided to help it with your money.
In-between these two bookend decisions, which cost approximately $1M, Council has spent an additional $1M of your tax dollars on other questionable decisions. This includes subsidizing a mixed martial arts event, the oval egg and bus stops around the Avenir Centre. It also includes painting the CN overpass on Main street, ‘planting’ metal trees and cutting down real trees at the Aberdeen Centre, as well as the Mayor’s car allowance.
I would have voted against every single one of these decisions.
Why? Because there are many other more important things on which I would have spent $2M.
Instead of giving $850,000 to the Avenir Centre’s international management company, I would have given it to local businesses to offset their losses.
Instead of spending $400,000 to paint the CN overpass, I would have given it to Atlantic Ballet, Théâtre l’Escaouette and other local professional artists.
Instead of $180,000 to cut down the Aberdeen trees, supposedly to ‘get rid’ of the homeless folks hanging around, I would have given that money, plus the Mayor’s $6,000 car allowance, to food banks, The Humanity Project and other social inclusion groups, who can resolve the issue more effectively.
To be more precise, I would have reduced the total spending, from $2M to $1M. I’m sure all recipients would be fine with 50%.
I would take the remaining $1M to reverse the cuts made by Council to snow removal and summer jobs since 2016.
That’s right! This Council’s questionable financial decisions include not only questionable expenditures but also silly cuts.
Also, these cuts were made while building a $76 M reserve of taxpayers money. Council takes our money but provides no services!
When I was first elected to Council in 2008, the reserves had been depleted. We had to rebuild them in case of rainy days. But $10 M is enough.
My 2008-2016 track record on frugal and focused spending speaks for itself.
I made motions to cap tax increases and to spend in ways to maximise results. It can be done!
I commit to reinstating frugality and focused spending on Council decisions.