Councillors covered a lot of ground in reviewing the budget for 2023. Key issues were an increase in compensation for Councillors, Community Grants, Centennial pool, tree planting and of course, the tax rate or levy. In the interest of minimizing the length of this report, I am leaving a report on community grants until tomorrow – but they were not cancelled. Although there might be some minor changes if arithmetic errors are discovered, the tax levy increase will be 6.6%. There is an 8% increase in the budget but because of growth in the Town resulting in an increased value of taxable properties of 1.5%, your taxes will go up by 6.6% in 2023 compared to 2022. For comparison, the 2022 tax increase was 2.9%. The complete tax bill will include County taxes which went up 6% and School taxes which did not increase at all.
As noted by commenters, expenses for stormwater were transferred out of the Town’s budget into the LUI budget and the Public Works budget was correspondingly lower. Unfortunately, this expense “reduction” was more than countered by increases in other departments.
Key Issues
Councillor compensation.
In a previous meeting, Mayor Lucas Cleveland proposed adopting the increases suggested by Bryan Lambert and effective April 1, 2023. But because of considerable feedback from taxpayers and other councillors, Lucas moved that the increase be phased in over 2 years. Note that a CPI increase is already scheduled for each year. My understanding is that the full increase will not be until 1 July 2024 with half the increase a year earlier per this table:
| Mayor | Deputy Mayor | Councillor | |
| Now | $45,412 | $31,082 | $25,963 |
| July 1, 2023 | $55,206 | $41,541 | $35,481 |
| July 1, 2024 | $65,000 | $52,000 | $45,000 |
So the full budget impact will not be until 2025.
For comparison Port Hope’s Mayor is now paid $68,800.
The vote was recorded: voting in favour were Mayor Cleveland and councillors Bureau, Barber and Mutton and against were Deputy Mayor Beatty and councillors Burchat and Darling. The motion passed. Mayor Cleveland also wanted a letter sent to AMO and Provincial Politicians asking for guidance on this matter but after considerable discussion, he withdrew the motion in favour of it being raised at a later time.
Centennial Pool
In line with what he was asked to do, Director Geerts proposed shutting down Centennial pool (it’s past its end of life) but Councillor Burchat moved to add the required expenses back in so that the pool will operate for another year. The biggest cost was for lifeguards and supplies ($105.6K) for a total of $124,600. The vote to add this amount back in was 6-1 with only Mayor Cleveland against.
Trees
Councillor Burchat wanted to add $70,000 for tree planting and his motion was approved.
Beach Mat
Per the presentation here, Aaron was able to get $30K added to the budget for the MobiMat Beach Mat at $30,000.
Pickleball court
The Capital cost for the planned pickleball courts of $250K was split between the Town ($125K) and users with them fundraising or getting grants for the balance ($125k). A condition of the Town’s contribution was that the fundraising portion be available first. Note that there are already 19 courts in Cobourg – of these, 13 are outdoor and many are multi-purpose (e.g. sharing with Tennis).
Skateboard
A similar condition was made for the replacement of the skateboard park which has already passed its end of life. The Town will fund $100K if fundraising/grants of $350K are available first.
Boardwalk
Mayor Cleveland convinced council to agree that the West Beach Boardwalk replacement should use the lower cost option at $810K although the project will go through more public engagement and this may change.
Emergency planner
Hiring was deferred from 1 March 2023 to 1 May 2023 saving $15K.
Strategic Plan
A Strategic Plan for the Town uses a Facilitator but Nicole wanted this to be done by Staff thereby saving $20K. Mayor Cleveland felt that a good strategic plan is critical and strongly favoured an external professional and thought that even $20k was too little. A motion by Nicole to remove the $20K for this purpose from the budget was defeated. Mayor Cleveland plus councillors Adam Bureau, Miriam Mutton and Randy Barber voted against.
Executive assistant
Mayor Cleveland strongly supported adding an Executive assistant to support him and the CAO in addition to the existing one (Toni Galea). His remarks that Councillors did not understand the workload offended Nicole and Adam and Lucas ended up withdrawing his request.
Upgrade Communications – especially web site
Lucas wanted at least a place holder for work to upgrade the web site. After discussion, it was agreed that $20,000 would be put into a reserve fund for this purpose.
Other changes
A number of other smaller and less contentious budgets were revised. At the end, it was clear that the increase was more than was wanted so Mayor Cleveland added $100K revenue for “Fees” since a review of fees charged is planned for this year. Ian Davey promised to report before the budget is finally approved (on 27 February) to assess whether this is feasible.
As reported above, because of all the changes (mostly additions) the levy increase will be 6.6%.
Watch for the next Report tomorrow on Community Grants.
Resources
- Report of first budget meeting – 7 Feb 2023
- Article on Cobourg Internet on Taxes in Cobourg and how they are collected.
- Cobourg’s current administration including simple org chart.
Print Article:
How about enclosing the Centennial Pool and making it a year round facility. Other municipalities have done this successfully. Cobourg needs another pool and this would be a suitable and needed option for more recreation in town.
From a 2018 report, the average salary for the head of council and for councilors in Ontario, in municipalities of Cobourg’s population were $31,721 and $17,703 respectively. Adjusted for 5 years of inflation, you get to $36,405 and $20,317
The existing salaries of $45,412 and $25,963 are already WELL above average for municipalities around the size of Cobourg (The range in the report is 10,000-24,999 people, so Cobourg isn’t even at the top of the range)
The size of municipality at which the average salary for a mayor reaches proposed $65,000 dollars is the 50,000 to 100,000 population range, places like Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, or Belleville. Peterborough, with a population about 4 times that of Cobourg, pays their mayor $67,703 while overseeing a 300 million dollar operating budget, so the suggestion that a town with 1/4 the population and 1/5th the operating budget should have a comparable salary, putting it substantially above the average for a municipality this size, from its current position of ALREADY well above the average for a municipality this size is a pretty hard sell.
Now, as a wholly separate issue, the concept that positions on a town or city council should be structured as full-time jobs, with salaries commensurate with full-time administrative jobs overseeing this kind of budget, is an entirely reasonable one, and for once Mayor Cleveland makes a cogent point about many people feeling unable to run for council because they lack the financial security required to dedicate the time to the job without having other income.
But at the same time, the positions on council aren’t quite actually corporate financial administration positions are they? They certainly could become so, with some legislative modifications, but then you would certainly want to apply stricter requirements to holding the position than “Received enough votes in a public election” which then creates its own whole other set of problems.
Inasmuch as a position on town council truly is a full-time job in the sense of requiring, non-voluntarily, at least 2000 hours of your time over the run of your term, in order to fulfill the formal requirements of that position, the pay for that position should absolutely be above minimum wage. But there is no argument at all that just pointing to the salary of the major in Port Hope is sufficient to say “our pay is too low relative to the rest of the province” when it’s markedly higher than the average already.
What’s also disturbing is the the relative ease of decisions to debenture capital projects. The 2023 budget deliberations includes the addition of a number of new debenture financing decisions. Wake up Council, money isn’t free anymore. Debt servicing costs play out thru the operating budget and the more debt you add, then the more you handcuff future operating budgets
To be clear, during the two meetings (Feb 7 and 9), the Mayor was the only one pushing for reductions…but was stonewalled by rest of Council and Director of Finance. The mayor voted against the majority of cost increases introduced by other Councillors.
Also of note was the early push to approve the Library Budget (despite the lofty 6% increase it that budget)…the member of Council that introduced and pushed for that early approval, has a conflict of interest of relations
Jim:
Don’t confuse the Lucas haters!
The general public seem to pay no attention attention to local politics and then vote in a guy who says ”the town needs a showman”. Did we elect a mayor because we think he might look good cutting ribbons??
Basically yes we did. How anyone thought someone with zero experience, questionable behaviour, and the smirk of a info commercial actor could possibly be ready for this position is beyond me. Maybe if he spent less time arguing with residents on Facebook (maybe that’s why he needs an executive assistant) and more time understanding what this community needs are he could get somewhere.
I seem to remember, as a kid, a huge fundraising event(s) at the arena to build the existing YMCA in Elgin Street. Where are the YMCA voices now to save the pool? It seems they don’t care about the Centennial pool? Odd.
That’s because the Y is probably pushing for a new aquatic complex attached to the CCC. This idea failed once and is still kicking around in the bowels of the boardroom.
We need to renovate the existing complex now and let the future look after itself.
As someone who can’t afford the Y prices, I would love to see a town owned facility to swim in -paid for primarily by my taxes with a low user fee to swim in year round
You already have that. I have a membership for my family but pay a small fee for my kids friends when we go. There are also reduced rates for y members who have a lower income. The Centennial pool is so important to my family, and the discussions around closure are extremely disappointing.
Is $4 not reasonable?
I think you’re probably right. The closing of the centennial pool is additional justification for a new aquatic complex. Details to follow I’m sure
One word – disgusting. Okay 8 words – not at all what I had voted for.
Given the comments so far, it is clear how disappointed Taxpayers are in the direction Mayor Cleveland is taking Cobourg – and just after three months in office with no prior experience. I also believe his comments against Councillors yesterday was unnecessary and and unwarranted.
Those following this Blog probably have a full understanding of what has gone on this week and the tax increase impact. But most likely there are a lot of Taxpayers that don’t realize the significant cost increase coming to them this year. There is an article today posted on Peter Fisher’s Twitter under the Northumberland News that outlines some of the issues regarding yesterdays budget meeting. Hopefully this will bring more Taxpayers up-to date.
While my understanding is that an elected Mayor cannot be removed during its four year term, I wonder how effective a Taxpayer signed Petition requesting that the Mayor now step down due to lack of confidence would be.
I would sign a Petition of this nature.
Rational, there were two candidates for Mayor. You favour the one not elected?
Absolutely laughable to the suggest the Mayor step down due to the response off of a random town blog. I call it random because it in no way accurately represents the town electorate. For lack of better wording, this blog attracts cheap skates. A lot of cost cutting measure that are adored on this blog would get chewed up by the general public.
And further to that, not everyone is of the mindset of tax = bad. I for one am ok with a higher tax bill if it means better services for town residents.
Ahewson,
I understand your statement about paying higher taxes if you receive better services.
If I was assured by the town that I would indeed receive better services, then perhaps I would feel alright about paying higher taxes.
Assured might look like:
Realistically, not everyone can afford to pay more or higher taxes. People aren’t cheap if they simply can’t afford it. Understanding the demographics of our community and figuring out a financially sustainable and transparent way to move forward might bring this community together rather than apart.
To say people can’t afford it is a bit of a fallacy. Tax, by its very nature, redistributes money from the top to support those at the bottom.
Tax and service cuts are most popular with the middle and upper class demographic that can afford to pay for their own services. Things like cutting transit spending affect the most vulnerable people in our society that can’t afford their own vehicle. Centennial pool is more likely to be used by families that can’t afford their own pool or a summer vacation. The library is often attacked on this blog by people who are more than likely sitting at home on their computer or cell phone. People who can’t afford those things depend on the library.
Ahewson, that may be correct for a graduated income tax. Property taxes affect everyone — seniors on fixed incomes, renters and well paid senior town staff (Do any actually live in Cobourg?).
I was working on the assumption that wealthier people will own more valuable property and therefore be paying a higher proportion of property taxes.
There is no doubt that service cuts affect those at the bottom more than those at the top.
Ahewson, many seniors purchased their home years ago when homes were affordable. They now have a very valuable property but limited income to pay ever increasing property taxes.
I get that there are exceptions. As a general rule though, the wealthier the person the higher the property tax they are paying. Not to mention those seniors have a gold mine of equity at their disposal.
They often consider the equity to be their children’s inheritance rather than a “gold mine” to be squandered on high property taxes.
Look, I said there are exceptions. I also said as a general rule. You keep moving to a diminishing segment of people that this issue applies to. Fixed income seniors sitting on a million dollar properties that have trouble keeping up with property tax rates that want to leave inheritance to their children.
These old properties in question are worth upwards of a million dollars. The amount of money “squandered” on property taxes would leave their children with with a few thousand less dollars than their already hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile subjecting those less fortunate to figure out how they are going to function in society at all.
Diminishing segment?
How many rely on the bus rather than being able to afford cabs or a car versus the number of seniors on fixed incomes living in valuable houses? My guess is that there are more income strapped seniors.
The basis of this argument is a little ridiculous to me. Gee, my house is so valuable I’m having trouble affording it. Doesn’t garner much sympathy from me. I think we can call that a good problem to have.
Gee, I’m having trouble affording my mortgage free home because my taxes keep increasing to fund goodies for others.
Is that better?
Goodies. I.e. peoples ability to function in society at all. Transit, library, etc.
There are only two places the public can voice their displeasure. Neither of which look good for the mayor
My mother always told me “you get what you pay for” I would pay more taxes for services such as being able to swim for fitness at a reasonable user fee.
Is $4 not reasonable?
My view is that you have missed the point.
Residents do understand taxes will go up a reasonable amount each year as a necessity to maintaining operations and infrastructure. However when you get a 6.6% increase plus the impact of the Stormwater charge then this years’ increase becomes un-expectantly high and troublesome. Given this, the issue then becomes one of leadership (which starts with the Mayor) and for him to throw in on top of the foregoing increase items such as Mayor and Council salary increase, personal executive assistants, sustainability officer, web site design only amplifies poor judgement and ability.
Therefore this leads to the conclusion Mayor Cleveland should step down.
Assign the blame where it belongs!
The Sustainability Officer and the Stormwater Fee were instituted by the previous Council. The $1M+ per year cost of additional managers without clear deliverables was approved by the previous Council. The annual AGN handout was approved by the previous Council. The excessive library spending, largely due to exorbitant salaries of some of their staff, was approved by the previous Council. The spending on V13 without any obvious benefit to the residents was begun by the previous Council. The spending of almost $2M on a modified transit system that does not meet the needs of residents was approved by the previous Council. The idea that everyone should receive a “living wage” was approved by the previous Council. The salary increases for our representatives are minimal compared to these other items.
Was not assigning blame, but focusing on/pointing out that with the increases Taxpayers are being faced with this year it was poor judgement to throw on top un-necessary expenses. Amplifies poor judgement.
In my opinion the poor judgement is perpetuating prior mistakes rather than correcting them. Sadly, change requires four votes on Council and few of those recently elected are concerned about correcting excessive spending.
Ken S,
With Clr Burchat leading the spending race with $200K+ in adds, I suggest that the re-elected members of Council may be the ones less concerned about correcting excessive spending.
During the prior council term they exercised little restraint. do you now expect them to mend their spendthrift ways?
I should have ran for council dammit. I’d do more with less pay than they get WITHOUT the increase!
Honest to God we are all done for with this council. And the ones that have sat before? Wow.. true color is showing. The tax increase? Where’s Bryan now for us taxpayers? He’s sitting silent today isn’t he.
Totally disappointed in our council
colour
Jade,
Where’s Bryan? Me or Darling?
Yes, I proposed the compensation increase and stand by it. It makes good business sense, consistent with the work content, is fair and is consistent with the Town’s values of living wage, inclusiveness and diversity. The Town values were approved by the previous Council, including Darling, Burchat and Beatty)
Further, it is consistent with the way a $60M corporation should act
Everyone talks about the compensation increase, and no mention of the savings suggestions that I made at the same time. V13 ($200K+, SW $500K)
More than enough to fund the increased compensation.
How much savings did Council members, other than the Mayor, propose?
I think Councillor Burchat leads the spending race with $200K
As to the timing, Look back over the history of council compensation increases. The significant ones proposed in the year prior to an election were all not approved. Token increases were approved. Significant increase approvals occurred in the first year of council’s term
As for “sitting silent”, I suggest you reread my 4 comments made over the past few days regarding the budget.
Hi Bryan
I totally agree with your recommendation on market comparable compenstion for overseeing a $60,000,000 business which has lots of irons in the fire. How else can we attract more business management types – which is what is needed? I encourage Mayor Cleveland to ask the tough questions. We can tell from the friction caused that this has not happened for some time.
Old Sailor,
Thanks for the support.
Some may not agree with the mayors approach. His “in your face” style and tough questions are certainly not what we’re used to. The pot needed stirring and he has certainly done that; provoking a lot of reaction and discussion.
I think you might be mistaking a confidence/competence gap, lack of emotional intelligence and looking rather entitled for “tough questions” and being in someones face…
Provoking reaction by insulting other Councilors isn’t being “tough” its being arrogant.
Competence is often perceived as arrogance by those who are less competent.
*scratches his head* That certainly is not the case here…
“…consistent with the way a $60 M corporation should act”? Assuming we taxpayers are shareholders of this “corporation “, we ought to be getting a good return on our investment, have a clear and consistent business plan, deliver dividends on our investments. Perhaps the increase should have been postponed until we could see a return on
our investments.
Eastender, I assume that you are joking!
How would Cobourg conceivably make a profit in order to pay dividends? For a “dividend” we get the services — police, fire, road maintenance, etc.– that are valuable to everyone. Sadly, we also get services that are unaffordable and/or of very limited value to the majority of our residents — bus, AGN, skateboard park, handouts for “affordable” housing, etc.
Jade,
I strongly suggest that you underestimate the work load and the complexities of the work. Also, your comment suggests that you don’t place much value on the work of Council
As for “totally disappointed” it’s early days
In my opinion, Cleveland demonstrated a lack of pragmatic Municipal leadership during yesterdays review…among other things, he suggested strategic planning would likely cost more than 140k (previous plan/review was 10k plus another 10k only because of pandemic disruption), he suggested a new website would take 2-3 years to develop, would cost 80k or more but would save 10’s of thousand of dollars in staff time. He voted against the will of the people in the Centennial Pool issue. He lacked maturity and emotional intelligence during the discussion for his Executive Assistant position; first suggesting that the EA would make everyone’s job easier, then claiming the current resources are over utilized and finally mansplaining to Council that they just don’t understand how busy he is. Once those tactics failed to produce the desired result, he took his ball and went home. He got his raise of course…swallowed hard and compromised. The Mayor seemed somewhat arrogant and patronizing after less than 110 days in office.
Council will need to keep a tight leash on Cleveland. As a taxpayer, I was disappointed. Cleveland appeared to be swinging for the fences during his first budget deliberations and almost appeared to be trying to create a legacy, its far too early for this. He will need to learn how to read a room.
Was very pleased to see Beatty, Bureau, Burchat and Darling play a little hardball…true to their word in most cases.
He is known to be a loose cannon and there are already many examples of this in his run up to becoming mayor. McDonalds, School incident where they had to change security protocols for safety. To vote a pay increase at this time shows just how disconnected he is from tax payers. Since moving here I have seen my property tax increase by $600, now on top of that storm water charges, natural gas increase, food etc. This was not the time for this especially when services are being cut. Huge disappointment but then I could see that a mile away. We voted in a used car sales man. (Sry used car sales people)
My observations: https://burdreport.ca/blog/2023/02/10/done-dusted-and-its-still-deceitful/
The Port Hope Mayor and Council only raised their salaries after they had proven their value and
expertise in Cost savings by some very major Fat cutting and Reduced departments , over staffing and duplication , Now Look at PORT HOPE its a Town to be Talked about
They even grabbed New College Campus that was intended to go at the End of DePalma Dr.
last yr.
Port Hope is starting to look very attractive….
They do have a thriving and creative arts community and the turnout for Critical Mass events increases each year.
Seems to me that only “Government” gives themselves nice pay raises versus the general population…just look at the Feds & the Provincials…plus their pensions and their regular benefits packages. The increase put on us this year plus the “stormwater fiasco” will amount to over a 12% increase. This town is beginning to be too expensive to live in. Just watch the contributions perhaps to welfare programs like United Appeal decline this year…it can happen.
Regarding the budget and fees, My mental acuity is not what it was, but
one correspondent states that the stormwater fee will be 6.6%, yet on
23 June 2022, Mr. Draper said, regarding the same “Mayor John Henderson spoke about the current issue of affordability (of stormwater fees) and said he would oppose the change – he seemed to think that the stormwater fee would increase costs to taxpayers – it does not, it actually reduces total costs to most taxpayers”. So, I’m confused.
Eastender, it is really pretty simple.
I provided the details of the increase in my delegation to Council. Ben and I mentioned the increase in our Letters to the Editor (https://cobourginternet.com/home/letters-to-the-editor). Our politicians deceived us! Mr. Draper reported what he was told by our leaders.
The stormwater fee is in ADDITION to your usual property taxes. Look at the numbers:
Stormwater fee: $1.672M
2022 levy: $26.668M
Stormwater is about 6.1% of last year’s levy
Mr. Strauss, I was not implying Mr. Draper was incorrect. And you are quite right that our politicians deceived us, again. I wonder if the Ontario Municipal Act has a recall provision? I should have entered last years Council race.
Eastender, the deceivers were the previous Council members rather than those recently elected. Sadly, several were re-elected.
You are so right Ken! Like my good ol’ pa used to say, “Champagne taste on a Beer budget”….. Pickleball anyone?
Questionable tastes funded by a Champagne budget to be paid for by those with Beer finances.
“At the end, it was clear that the increase was more than was wanted so Mayor Cleveland added $100K revenue for “Fees” since a review of fees charged is planned for this year.”
If we are dealing in fantasies why not make the whole increase disappear with revenue from increased fees that will appear when said fees go up in the review.
More fees less tax – “There is only one taxpayer!” (Mike Harris)
PS Not a new idea, I can remember one year we lowered the tax increase by guessing that the Insurance bill was going to be lower than quoted.
Ben,
At least the Mayor had some justification for increasing the revenue estimates. They are not a fantasy. The user fee consultant was to have reported in time for their findings to be included in the budget. Hasn’t happened!
Further, when the user fee project was approved last fall, staff indicated that the additional revenue would not only cover the consultant’s fee but provide real additional revenue to the Town (est 100K+)
Now consider some of the budget revenue padding that staff has engaged in:
Dredging $100K in 2023. No actual contacts in hand. $100K also budgeted in 2022 but yielded $0
CCC: Vending machine 2023 $75K, 2022 YTD $42K
CCC: Warm side rental 2023 $105K 2022 YTD $77.5K
CCC: Canteen 2023 $110K 2022 YTD $66K
CCC: WNGHL 2023 $112K 2022 YTD $77.4K
Good and bad here. Bad: councillors’ salary increase, what is wrong with the boardwalk, another consultant to be hired, total tax increase is too high. Good: trees will be planted, special interest groups can start doing some of their own fundraising, no EA and no emergency planner. Generally it sounds like councillors are not all on the same page. I wonder how that will bode with future decisions. I am not feeling hopeful.
I recall Lucas Cleveland said he planned to display great leadership. I guess considering the cuts he has mentioned he feels are necessary to services Lead by Example is not a phrase he is familiar with.
The Emperor’s New Clothes is what comes to my mind.
I watched on line. Lucas was a “lone wolf”, sometimes the only person voting down expenses. He’s only one vote on council and is outnumbered by members on Council who have zero concept of budget saving.
What happened to Beatty and her affordability / sustainability promises ????
was her campaign all smoke and Mirror Like the affordable apartments
of the New Bolder Apt, building subsidized by the Tax Payers as well .
Right?????!!! Busy saving the world $1 thousand dollars at a time.
Sandpiper/Kathleen – Unfortunately the formula for Affordable Market Rent apartments is 80% of current Market Value which is beyond Ms. Beatty’s control. At that rate any new Affordable Market rent builds are doomed to be unaffordable. However supply and demand – in encouraging development supply will increase. Hopefully with more and better choices rents will come down.
Could you name a few expenses he voted down Kathleen? All I can recall is he stated public transit is a luxury and Cobourg Police Force should be no more amalgated into a Northumberland County Force. To me it seems at odds to implement a 43% raise for himself and request further hiring to serve himself if he feels important services should be cut that serve the Town.
Above it states he is in favour of hiring an external consultant for a Strategic Plan and that 20K was far too little for such.
Shame about the pool.
Ben’s link refutes your statement Kathleen.
The 30k beachmat, the 100k pool and spoiler alert, the 30k Community Grants…..and there were others.
Kathleen – on the other side of the ledger
His Proposed hiring of new EA at cost of $85,000,perhaps his downtown business is what is making the job so busy for him plus his lack of experience in dealing with the meat and potatoes of mayorship
His proposed hiring of external consultant for Strategic Plan – said he thought 100K would be appropriate
Re-Design of Town website – cost projected at $80,000
He feels cutting services to citizens is appropriate for his wants which is what tax dollars are meant to pay for.
I actually agree on council’s pay raise at this time. You need money to live in this Town! Seriously though, while I certainly don’t believe everyone on council is worth their salt, it’s a thankless job at minimum wage. And voting for a raise now is way better than voting in the last year when, no doubt, it would have been way more.
The minimum wage aspect only applied to the Councillors not the Mayor who earns both on Town Council and County. Plus he has a business downtown so he shouldn’t be hurting.
I’m no fan but the fact that he has a business has no bearing on wages for the Mayors position.
Informed –
The ink was dried on the contract – signed, sealed and delivered. A contract is a contract.
For a man with admitted no experience he seemed quite happy to accept the compensation package offered prior to the new offer. The amount of increase should have been held effective to the next Council after examination of the revenues and ability of the Town to provide services required to citizens. Otherwise what kind of trust should the citizens hold of their elected officials?
Lol minimum wage ?
How is it budget saving for Mayor Cleveland to want to spend more money on strategic planning and an extra Executive Assistant for himself? Oh wait, he did vote against the community swimming pool and sees transit as a luxury. More consultants, salary increases and admin staff wasn’t the “Change” for Cobourg I envisioned in his election campaign. .
I don’t disagree
6.6%….How can any reasonable taxpayer, citizen, parent, business-owner, employer be pleased with the ‘change’ we elected for ourselves last fall?
How?
It is happening all around us. Everywhere and everything. We are all paying for the catch-up from the last couple of COVID’s years and for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which is ongoing…
Canada’s National Defence Minister recently said, “We put on the table more than 5 billion dollars of military aid. We will stand with Ukraine in its fight for security, solidarity and sovereignty and the decision relating to peace and Ukraine’s future will come from Ukraine itself and Canada will be there all along the way.”
If people had paid attention to the candidates and actually listened to what they had to say (or didn’t say) we would not have this mess we are faced with. Instead of being enamoured with the big pink signs if you listened you got exactly what you voted for. We have worked and supported almost every major addition to this town in the over 45 years we have lived here. Councils come and go some are better than others but always I have felt that service to our community was the reason for throwing in their hat to run. Never did I think I would see someone at the helm trying to make this a full time mayors job. Just because you pay more does not mean you get the brightest. We are losing all the wonderful things that have made this my home town to be proud of. As someone has said port hope is certainly out shining us. I understand restraint but lack of understanding of our community is not acceptable. Don’t get me started about the lack of concern for our downtown and our parking issues.
Combined with the expected $1,620,726 from the previously approved stormwater management fee that is a tax increase of almost 12.6% (6.6% + 6%) this year. I hope that all taxpayers got a pay raise!
I did !!!! The Gov’t gave me an “pay raise” for my OAS of $3.98 per month. Yippee!!! What “luxury” would you like me to contribute to, the pool, the pickle ball court, the ever present consultant, the staff pay increases or a loaf of bread.