Unless and until this city council is willing to wrestle with the stranglehold wages and benefits have on city taxpayers nothing meaningful will ever come out of the current budget exercise.
This council has never assumed the position of being a policy maker and last year when three councillors attempted to make policy they were basically ridiculed and accused of grand standing.
There is no incentive for city council to take a stand on wage increases, which run well above the consumer price index, year after year. City council is afraid of labour unrest and the exempt staff know their wages will rise in proportion to the raise 'negotiated' by the city. All of this is under the guise of the collective bargaining system, but the city side of the table has nothing to loose by capitulating to the latest union demands.
It is nearing the point that every 1% of wage increase translates into another 1% tax increase and that says nothing of the cost of all the benefits and matching pension funds, car allowances etc. etc.
To pretend you can get a handle on the city budget without dealing with the one cost centre that accounts for 80% of every tax dollar collected, we are just spinning our wheels and putting on a show.
An External Core Service Review Absolutely Essential
There is no surprise that when you ask staff how to reduce taxes they will never suggest taking a hard look at the wages being paid, and what those wages are actually buying Nanaimo taxpayers.
There are some on council and staff that will try and tell you this current budget review exercise is the equivalent of zero based budgeting or a mini core review, they are simply demonstrating the source of the problem.
If anyone so much as suggests looking for staffing efficiencies or having a core review you can immediately expect the howling to start with Councillors Greves and Brennan with pretty much the rest of council following along.
Too bad. Nanaimo could be a lovely city, but if someone doesn't get a handle on the out of control wages and benefits we are paying for, we could be the next Detroit.
Note: All of the above wages and benefits figures are from 2012, which is the most current information available. (There is that openness we keep hearing about) Figures for 2013 can be expected to be another 2% higher and for 2014 there will likely be another 2% raise again. The contract for 2014 has yet to be 'negotiated' but if history tells anything we can expect another 2% increase at the very least. Don't forget the last 5.5% raise the firefighters got was only up to 2011.
(submitted by Janet Irvine)
ReplyDeleteA link to a good read: (hope it works!)
It's a sad day when MLAs believe mayors and municipal councillors need longer terms in office
In the above article at the straight.com dated Feb. 26, 2014, writer Charlie Smith, says, "It's another step along the road to less accountability and greater power for the oligarchs who already have too much influence through their ability to finance the election of whoever will do their bidding."
I understand that extending the term of elected municipal officials to four years, was one of the resolutions that municipal councils voted on at their last annual UBCM networking event. Don’t CUPE and the IAFF also have a presence at these annual gatherings? Members of CUPE and IAFF are employed by the general taxpaying public, the same taxpaying public, who exercise their right to vote, with the expectation that the duly elected officials will equitably represent “all residents of the municipality”. These same elected officials are, of course, involved with the decision-making with respect to employment contracts of CUPE and IAFF ... who are employed by the general taxpaying public.
Question: Wonder what the chances are of municipal councils submitting resolutions to the UBCM that deal with the reform of municipal election financing law? And what about the need for a Ward system of municipal governance?