Budget to be reconsidered

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It looks like saner heads prevailed at Town Council when the 2013 budget was discussed. Many municipalities defer the budget discussion until the prior year’s financial position is known. The auditor noted in her management letter that large adjustments at the end of the year and in fact some after the auditor started the audit call into question the financial reports presented during the year.

The budget document showed September 30 balances. What good is that when you are trying to analyse costs. It might be all right to look at, and use, September numbers if you own a hotdog stand but they are useless when trying to do any form of meaningful analysis.

An effort should be made to ensure that the audit is completed by March 31 of each year. The three month period is standard for all provincial agencies and many of them are much bigger and as complex as the municipality. (i.e. LCBO)

The other shocker to me was this idea that our taxes can go up because the other levels of government have indicated a desire to ‘hold the line’ is ludicrous. As councillor Withey suggests all elected officials have a duty to perform due diligence. Passing a spoon fed budget, without question and any evidence of due diligence, is  shirking the responsibility we have entrusted them with.

It looks like it is time for the Mayor to shuffle his cabinet postings. Councillor Z has gotten too close to staff and it is time to shuffle the deck. Last year Councillors Withey & Terziano dug deep into the budget to find those areas of padding of expenses and those unreasonable revenue expectations as well. Cut the deck, high card wins, loser becomes the deputy chair. Get it done.