The Downtown Plan

Tax exemptions for businesses in the Downtown is a good idea. Take a little bit of the burden off of the businesses and let them refocus that money into further improving their businesses, thus improving the downtown. The new Seymour Pacific building will certainly go a long way to helping change the face of the downtown core and Tyee Chev can further improve the look of their property. Not too sure what the Dance / Fitness studio plans to do, tucked away in the corner as they are, but hopefully it will be positive.

This got me wondering, though. What exactly does the City expect to get out of these tax exemptions? Is there anything in the proposal / acceptance process that has the businesses saying “if we get this exemption, we will do ‘X’ in the next 5 years”? Does the City have its own plans, as far as what they expect these businesses and property owners to accomplish, in the allotted time of the exemption?

This never really occurred to me until this past long weekend. A big sale on kids’ clothes in Nanaimo had me out with my family on an afternoon road trip. While I try to shop locally as much as possible, sometimes the things you need and the prices you want are simply not here. It was this trip where things really started to come together, as far as the many pieces of our shopping puzzle goes.

Woodgrove Mall was bustling with long weekend shoppers, yet the thing that struck me was that, for as many people that were in the stores, there were just as many strolling around, doing other things. With the weather the way it was, it was nice to be inside exploring the labyrinth of stores and kiosks. As I sat with my boys, munching on chocolates, I realized that you really can’t do this in Campbell River. In a town of plazas and street shopping, you are at the whim of Mother Nature. Our one indoor mall is in the wrong place and is becoming less and less of an actual mall, its heyday long since past.

Our community has grown, but the development of our shopping “experience” still resides in the 1960’s mentality of small stores in the downtown. Even the spaces that are available to perspective merchants still maintain a small town air. There is no “experience”. People come downtown, get what they need and leave. No browsing. No impulse buying. Just in and out. It is sad that this is what our 3 second attention space society has become, but it is the reality of it.

If the downtown is to thrive, it needs to become an “attraction” and not a “function”. The effort requires a much more detailed plan that what has been laid out so far and it requires the participation of the property owners, as much as it does the merchants. More than anything else, it requires a good, long, look at what people are looking for, especially in those days when Mother Nature’s refuses to be a part of the solution.

I do not buy into the thought process that “shopping in Quinsam Heights won’t happen because it’s too far away”. I drove 90-minutes to Nanaimo to get what I needed. Why wouldn’t I drive 10 minutes to Quinsam Heights? A large scale, indoor, mall up there is not such a bizarre idea and it leaves the Downtown the one thing that they REALLY need to make the changes needed; serious competition.

Hospital. Good. Location. Bad.

I just want to get this down, for the record. I think the new hospital being built is great news. I think the planned location for the hospital isn’t great news, at all.

“It’s central to Campbell River”, they say. That location WAS central to Campbell River, about 30 years ago. With the growth of the community edging on Jubilee Parkway and beyond, Central Campbell River is a little closer to Willow Point than to downtown.

“It’s accessible”, they say. This statement obviously came from a person who has never tried to find a parking space at the existing hospital, in the late morning. The parking lots are full, cars are parked on both sides of 2nd Ave, from Birch to Cedar and parking on Birch itself occasionally goes all the way to Evergreen.

It’s what the community wants” they say. No. They wanted a hospital IN Campbell River. Nothing was said about having it on the same spot.

Starting in 2013, expect to see the following: Road Closures on 2nd and Birch, as the work on services, move supplies and equipment and generally do that construction thing. Noise complaints from neighbours, as construction happens between 7am and 5pm, 5 to 6 days a week. Health concerns from patients and medical staff, as noise and construction potentially interferes with medical work and recovery. The list goes on. I’m not trying to be a naysayer. I’ve just lived here long enough to know what is coming.

I have often been cited for complaining without producing a solution. OK. Here’s my solution;

Talk to Timberwest. They are planning a development at Jubilee Parkway and Dogwood. See if they would be interested in a land swap. Prime land, in the core of the City, with views and surrounded by medical clinics, ambulances, bus routes, shopping and parks. Exchange for an equal parcel of land, with some extra for long-term expansion, that sits near to major routes, close to the airport and the highway and only minutes away from anywhere in town. Heck, it’s even got a great view and would be a real catalyst for home sales in that area, especially with the new planned community that Timberwest has in mind.

Of course, none of that is going to happen. VIHA and the happy gang from the Hospital Board is simply going to dive head long into a 4 to 5 year project, without thought to the peripheral pain that’s going to result. Oh, well. At least we get our new hospital.

It’s Insulting

When you go to the dentist, to get work done on your teeth, the dentist lies to you. After adding a little numbing agent, they take a needle that looks something like a cruise missile, from the angle you are at and poke it into your gums. “You feel just a liiiiitle discomfort…..”, they say. Right. Actually, it’s a lot of discomfort. As your face goes numb, you cannot help but think “this Dentist must think I’m an idiot….”

This is how a lot of people probably feel after the recent Finance and Council meetings that brought us a 13.6% increase in the residential property tax rate. “The new tax rate will be 13.6%”. There’s that needle. “with the offsets, however, it will feel more like 7.1%”. There’s the “you may feel a slight discomfort” line. When your tax statement arrives, you will feel it and think “these people must think I’m an idiot….”

It’s insulting.

The City Hall Management has been playing fast and loose with the numbers and they haven’t done anything near the preparation needed to ensure that the Community survives tough times without being beaten to death by taxes.

At the end of March 2011, City Hall was telling us that the 2012 deficit was projected to be better than $1.8 Million. By December 2011 it was $500,000. In December 2011 the City Manager said things like “water rate structure is inadequate to sustain these utilities and utility rate increases will be required to maintain current levels of service in to the future”. Yet by April 2012 they are presenting reductions in the water parcel tax. In January they are talking about the potential of a 24% tax increase, then proudly announce that they have been able to get it to a more manageable 13% (after it was almost 16%).

Knowing that there were potentially significant issues on the horizon in 2012 (such as the change in Catalyst property assessment) the City management presented a fairly minor residential property tax increase. That would be the same people who presented us with the 13.6% monster in April of this year, stating that it was the result of “unforseen issues”. Apparently they had forgotten what they had talked about a year earlier.

The Staff tells council that the Strathcona Regional District budget will not have a noticeable effect on the Campbell River tax payer. The RD itself, in March of this year, stated to the media that “Basically it’s status quo. We’re keeping costs down to the rate of inflation.” Yet the residential increase for Campbell River this year will be 8% (inflation is about 3%) and as high as 32% on Quadra Island.

At what point do these government bureaucrats think that we, the taxpayer, won’t notice?

The final straw came on the May 1st Campbell River City Council meeting, where the City’s Corporate Services Manager was asked the question “how much of that 13% increase represents the loss of taxes from Catalyst?” “about 12%”, she says. So how is it possible that, with offsets that make the 13.6% increase feel more like 7.1%, we are still able to have a balanced budget. Aren’t we still short 5% to cover the loss of Catalyst taxes?

This is OK. This is what’s best for our community. This will help us in the long run. THIS is insulting.

Supporting New Opportunity….maybe

Well, after spending the better part of 2 months following and monitoring the Finance Committee and the City’s development of its new Financial Plan (and subsequent 13.6% residential property tax increase), I am back to looking at everything else. Today’s “WTH” moment belongs to the potential development of the Canadian Extreme Multi-Sport Park, north of Campbell River.

On Tuesday night (May 1st, 2012), following the adoption of the financial plan and tax increase, the council was presented with a report regarding the proposed development of a new multi purpose sport park North of the City, near the Race Point area. While the idea of having private investors put millions into building this facility (which would potentially have everything from a 1/4 Mile race track to a drive in movie theatre), was accepted as a positive for the community, the location was not. According to the report, the location (encompassing part of the Discovery Bay Neighbourhood Concept Plan area in the new Sustainable Official Community Plan) was not going to fit for the future of the community.

“The proposed Multi-Sport Park is not identified within the Plan as an intended land use.Rather, the vision for the area is a residential “lifestyle” community with a golf course and resort community centered on a village core. Several of the proposed uses for the Multi-Park, such as drag strip and oval track for stock car racing would be expected to conflict with the vision of the Neighbourhood Concept Plan.”

OK, so here is where I get a little lost. There is nothing there, yet. Granted that plans for those Timberwest Managed Forest lands did include things like golf courses and homes, those ideas have been around for close to a decade and have never amounted to much more than that; ideas. There isn’t anything there yet. So, why is the city concerned about the “residential” lifestyle of a place that does not yet exist, yet blindly allowed a pole peeling plant to be built right next to residential property, not 6 km away from the area the Multi-purpose sport park is looking at?

Here’s the other kicker. The multi-purpose sport park proponents, in the letter to council, stated that they were ready to put a downpayment on the property. Who are they purchasing it from? Although I haven’t been able to confirm it yet, I would speculate that it was being purchased from the same people that were planning to build the golf course and homes that were to be part of said “residential lifestyle”.

In the letter to council, the proponents were requesting a 5-year tax exemption, while they worked to build a facility that they expected to be worth about $25 Million. The City’s conclusion was “Considering that a property tax exemption on the subject land would directly and strictly benefit a business, there is no authority in the Community Charter to accommodate the proponent’s request.” This is an odd statement as this is the very thing that the City is doing for the downtown, in particular the new Seymour Pacific development on St.Ann’s. Considering the potential long term taxes on a development that might be worth $25 Million in the future, why isn’t the City seriously exploring this?

In the near future I hope to sit with the City’s Land Use Manager (who wrote the report) to get a better understanding of the differences between this development and the recent decisions that the City has made regarding other developments and development areas. I also plan to ask where Rivercorp is in supporting the proponents effort. In the meantime, have a look at some of the info for yourself.

Page 34-36
https://campbellriver.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=103311

Page 285 – 292 (of downloadable SOCP)
http://sustainablecampbellriver.ca/?p=633

On Google Maps (note that the Pole Peeling Plant is approx. 5 to 6Km South of the planned location)
50.093384, -125.368080

A Long Haul Ahead.

The Mayor of Campbell River really has his work cut out for him. Not because of the deficit, or the loss of industry or less than robust economic development. No, his hardest job is going to be repairing something much difficult, as it runs deeper than any of the former issues.

He has to try to change the Culture of Government.

No small task. Considering that this culture is engrained and rooted in the public employees and management at City Hall and the fact that it is strong enough to influence even the greenest politician, trying to overcome this obstacle is a feat worth of David vs. Goliath fame.

It has never been more obvious than during the most recent go around with the City’s budget meetings. Staff, as requested by council, puts numbers in front of the council members that, to you and me, seem totally outrageous. To government staff, however, they seem perfectly normal. Our staff gets these numbers based on “best practices” over other governments and government offices, so their litmus test of good and bad is already a skewed version of reality. So when an educated businessman, like Mayor Jakeway, looks at this distorted reality, he can only say “what the hell?”

Take this past Tuesday’s City Council meeting (Courier-Islander, March 23) where, in the midst of a budget crunch, the CAO recommends that City Council approve a potential expenditure of $60,000 for consultation and design of a repair upgrade to the foreshore by Ostler Park. 60 THOUSAND dollars. Not for actual work, but to consult with an engineer ON the work and have some pretty drawings made of a solution. The work itself would be extra. The Mayor, who is also an engineer, who knows engineers, scoffed at the number. The CAO couldn’t even give info on how he came up with that number. The Mayor recognized that telling a consultant what your budget is, pretty much guarantees that is what you will see as a quoted amount.

If I came to a plumber and said “I have $12,000 to have my toilet replaced. How much will a new toilet and installation cost me?”, you can pretty much bet that I will end up with the most expensive loo in the province.

throughout the back and forth exchange, between Mayor, Council and Staff, it became very apparent that staff felt that everything was as it should be and that the costs are correct. Considering that the CAO has spent his entire working career in government service, I am not surprised. He has NO idea of what the reality of spending is, or how it should be done. It is part of the government culture to spend outrageous sums without blinking an eye, for something that shouldn’t cost anywhere near what they are spending.

Both Councillor’s Story and Adams alluded to the fact that “if we don’t trust our staff, we have a problem”. I know that I have a VERY hard time trusting people who present me with utterly unrealistic numbers, questionable issue resolutions and budget recommendations that work more to protecting their interests than the those of the taxpayers. I guess, therefore, we have a problem.

Staff problems

My day started out as a pretty normal one, until about 8am, when I headed downtown.

As I drove into town on 19a, I suddenly had to slow down as a person was placing pylons out on the road, directing traffic around a section of the road. It’s morning rush hour and this fellow is out in the middle of traffic. Where are the flaggers. Oh, there they are. 3 of them, 50ft away, standing around and chatting. A kilometer up the road, another City employee is working on getting the electronic sign working to say, yes, you guessed it, be prepared to stop. Now, in the grand scheme of the day, this is all pretty minor stuff, but I couldn’t help but think that everything I saw was backwards. Shouldn’t it be sign, flaggers, pylons?

As I make my first meeting of the day, a local reporter shows me a press release from the City, regarding their plans to “encourage” the owner of the pole peeling plant to follow through with the recommendations of the consultant. “What’s the first question you would ask”, he queried, with a smile. “Simple”, I replied. “Ask them exactly what they plan to do if the owner says ‘no’”.

You see, the report wasn’t paid for contracted or paid for by they City, so the City is in no position to make the owner follow through with the recommendations. Even if they had paid for it, the report says that the sound level is within “acceptable” limits and, with the current (albeit grossly dated) noise by-law, they wouldn’t have anything to move forward with, anyway. Of course, all of that is made moot by the fact that the City currently doesn’t have any By-law Officers to enforce anything, anyway (or haven’t you noticed the coming parking anarchy, since people have started to notice the lack of a certain neon-yellow jacket downtown).

Later in the day I receive a Tweet from a person who was unhappy about my not Tweeting more about the way the council seemed to simply “brush over” the issue of the pole peeling plant at the Tuesday night meeting. I told the person that the process that night wasn’t for debating the issue and that what they should be focusing on are the comments from the City Operations Manager, when he was asked about some of the history of the property. “…I’m not fully aware of the history of the property” hardly seems likely, given the amount of time that this issue has been in the media.

But go back to the City’s press release, for a moment. To read it, one has to ask; was the City Operations manager lying about not knowing the history, or is the City Communications Advisor just more “in the know” than he is? I ask because there was a well-defined history of the property in question, within the press release.

Which brings us to an even bigger question. Where has the Communications Advisor been through all of this? Press releases come from her, but we have City Managers saying “I don’t know the history”? So many of the issues that the City has been having over the past 18-months can be traced to poor communications, yet the City somehow manages to win awards for their communications? What have the Citizens seen? Pretty buttons on the City Website and a new (and costly) City ad in the local papers? During City Council meetings she spends her time watching my Tweets and informing City Managers if I say anything in accurate or ask any hypothetical questions (I know this, because I have had City Managers come up to me, after the meeting and correct those statements or answer those questions). In less than 2 years, her salary jumped more that $14,000 and for what? Goodness knows that there is a lot of information that can be supplied to the public, from the City, yet the silence from a Communications Advisor is almost deafening.

I think I have a pretty good idea of how to save the City another $75,000 a year.

Finally, as my day drew to an end, I got asked the question about the City Blackberries. OK, in some quick math, I came up with about 168 City employees and slightly less than 40 managers/supervisors. A little over 200 people. The IT manager seems pleased about the fact that they reduced the City Blackberry inventory to 99? Almost HALF the City employees have Blackberries? Why? With a better portion of them working in offices, what on EARTH would they need a cell phone for? The computer in front of the and the phone on their desks don’t work? The issue is made even more comical, when the 2 new City Councilors have questions about cost and inventory, related to the presentation of a $176,000 proposal from Bell (a Montreal based company). The bid was higher than that of TELUS (a BC based company, with offices, staff, assets and techs in town), yet Councillor story wants to move ahead with accepting the proposal to get the 29% savings they offer. A 29% savings. On a higher bid. Did I miss something here?

The issues at City Hall, right now, lay squarely on the shoulders of City management staff, who are supplying the Council with slightly more than questionable numbers and information. I think our new Mayor and Councillors see this and I am holding out hope there is change coming. Soon.

 

Just thinkin’

So an opportunity presented itself recently, where the community may get the chance to build a new sports facility. Just rumours, but it got me to thinking. What would a REAL community multi-plex look like. Hang in there, as my imagination runs away with me.

Think of this. A 2 story facility, designed with west coast style and incorporating all kinds green energy technologies that can be shown off as demonstrations to developers and investors looking at Campbell River.

On one side of the facility, 2 quality ice rinks, one for play and one for practice, with plenty of seating and REAL change rooms (for BOTH sexes). On the second floor, above the rinks, are offices and conference rooms, to be used by community sports teams and businesses that support sport industry (are you seeing the theme, here?).

On the other a 50m split swimming with “water park”, similar to that of H2O in Kelowna (click here to check out H20).

Between the Water and Ice facilities would be concession / lounge, where parents and friends can watch the action in the practice rink or the water park, the weight rooms and fitness rooms above that, allowing observation of both, as well.

Attached to the building are 2 key elements. A sports bar, where Storm wins can be celebrated and popular sporting events can be viewed with friends, surrounded by sports memorabilia of all kinds. Number 2 would be the Visitor Centre, with an attached ticket agent. Why the Visitor Centre, you ask? Because this nifty new facility would be on 6 acres of water front property that the community wants to keep public.

Yes, I know that the City only owns 3.5 acres of that property, but this could be the first really successful joint venture with local First Nations. A facility that incorporates a community facility, that can be used by all, featuring First Nations art and design and can become a focal point for Campbell River. A facility that strikes a balance in design, with the wood of a long house design and the modern design of a technically advanced, eco-friendly, building. It wouldn’t be a plain old box on our “jewel” of a water front. It would enhance it and add something that people passing up and down the Discovery Passage could look at and say “wow. What is that!”

It’s a dream, but not one that is totally out of reach. Combined effort of the community, governments and private sector and anything is possible.

We just have to believe.

 

 

The Train Wreck Continues

I’m not on the inside. I am not in the loop. I sit on the same side of the fence as about 98% of the community, when it comes to knowing about what goes on behind the scenes of publically funded organizations like Rivercorp. I am like all the other armchair quarterbacks out there, with my opinion on what I see. Thing is, my fellow quarterbacks are all seeing the same thing and are coming up with the same question; “Huh?”

In reading the agenda for the February 28th Finance Committee meeting, I see a letter from the CEO of Rivercorp “clarifying” information supplied to the committee and council, regarding their budget increase request that wasn’t supported by an actual business case. Council has obviously been supplied with a more detailed explanation for the need for the significant budget increase and, based on recent article in the local paper ( Rivercorp Chief Appeals For More Funding – Campbell River Mirror, Feb 23). The letter, written the day after the debacle that was the CEO’s presentation, is a single page that doesn’t actually answer the questions in the Feb 14 meeting, though. Pretty much just ” we want $784,625.00 to do what we do”

So what is it that they are looking at? They want a $292,625.00 addition to last years $492,000.00 budget. They (Rivercorp) has listed the “need” to add 2 more staff members to the existing Economic Development team of 4 full timers, totalling $97,774.00, leaving $194,851.00 to be used for what? A “full scale business and retention program” that sounds an awful lot like they are stepping into territory that belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and “partnership” with Campbell River Tourism and Region to create a regional asset inventory (which both TCRR and the CR Visitor Centre already have). Sitting in my comfy chair, it looks as if they plan to re-create the wheel, again. I won’t even get into the confusion about hiring an Economic Development Officer, the official position that Mr.Goodman was hire to fill.

I look at a community like Port Alberni that has 1 Economic Development Officer (who shares an assistant with another department), where they have been able to attract international events like the U-17 Hockey Tournament, have been busy on a community revitalization that has resulted in increased property values, have been able to build a very attractive and new Visitor Centre / Chamber of Commerce building and, oh yeah, they still have their mill.

I look at a community like Nanaimo, with a population double that of Campbell River, and an Economic Development team of 5. Their efforts have been making some significant changes over the years, from downtown core revitalization to business attraction. They certainly are not without their controversy, but they are able to track their successes and they are not an “arms length” organization. They are an actual department within the City Hall and far more publically accountable.

I look at our EDC team attending the annual Truck Loggers Conference, presumably to attract Forestry Business and Opportunity. A quick check of the NIEFS job site shows a dozen of more jobs, amongst the 50 or so listing, directly related to forestry industry, with another half-dozen supporting businesses. This goes on weekly. Forestry continues in this area because, well, we have trees and forestry companies. Is there value in spending money to send a team to a forestry conference? Or working with Geoscience BC on geology survey’s to attract mining industry? Our existing mines are already trying to expand. Do they need our help?

Haven’t we learned a hard lesson that we need to diversify more, outside of the resource industry?

From my armchair, I would think that working with the Airport Authority to build aerospace technical industry attraction, seems like a good idea. Continue to pursue the Green Energy sector, not by doing demo projects that supply companies with free regional R&D info, but rather to attract them here to do it themselves. A lot of time and effort was put into attending SIGGRAPH in Vancouver last August. What is being done to attract IT based creative industry to our community?

Do we need Economic Development? Yes. Do we need a 6 0r 7 person team to make it happen? No. From my laz-e-boy, I think we need to involve the citizens of this community more, in attracting people and business here. That helps create a team of 30,000 plus, without the $300k increase.

Watching and waiting.

For the better part of 5-years I had Rivercorp in my sites. My rants were often received well by readers and reviled by community “leaders”. My vitriol actually cost me my writing gig with a local newspaper. Heck, the new CEO was warned about me from day one and has barely said a word to me since we first met way back in July of last year. I was wrong. I was bad. I was negative and I was destroying the community.

Part of me is really glad that I chose to stay at home, last Tuesday night, enjoying a quiet Valentines evening with my wife. I have a feeling that if I had gone to the Finance committee meeting, where Rivercorp presented a request for a heafty budget increase, I probably would have ended up in the hospital with surgeons trying to re-attach my tongue.

(Read the Courier-Ilsander article on Rivercorp’s budget request here)

While the official City contribution to Rivercorp’s budget last year was $492,000, the $45,000 that came out of the contingency fund for the Future of Forestry and the $6,000 given to them to hire a consultant to review the validity of a Community Forest, the actual number pulls over the $550,000 mark. A quarter of the base budget goes to the salary of one person, so one can imagine that a third of the remaining budget goes to the wages of the 4 other people who work for the organization. There is no public accounting of where the remainder goes. We are told that they are working on a variety of projects and initiatives, but they cannot tell us what they are.

None of this has me angry. Hard to get angry about things you are not surprised by. What bothers me is having a person, who earns that 6-figure salary and represents the economic development interests of our community, cannot seem to present a detailed and logical reasoning for needing a budget increase. I especially cannot believe the comment about economic development being like RRSP’s. The City has been investing in that RRSP for over a decade and have yet to see the real return on that investment.

But, that is far as my rant goes. The decision now lay in the hands of a council made up mostly of people who back-patted the Rivercorp team for years and now have to decide whether that back-patting was warranted and whether they think it should continue. My feelings and comments mean little in that process. I hope that the previously silent majority, however, does speak up and make their voice heard. For my part I will sit, watch and wait to see where this train wreck goes.

 

Smaller Cuts vs. Gaping Wound

The cuts are coming. They will be as painful as they are inevitable. Cuts to things like recreation facilities and programs will hurt us, as will cuts to services. People won’t be happy, but the fact is that we need to do this. Better to suffer the smaller cuts that will heal, than suffer the gaping wound that would result from NOT doing cost cutting measures.

I can’ say that I will be happy with what is coming, but I am realistic. I know that these are temporary, as we sort out our financial state and work to get back in the black. Some of the potential cuts I will probably be against completely (such as by-law enforcement. What’s the point of having a by-law, if you have no means of enforcing them). I will be paying attention to things that don’t get cut, to re-assure myself that the cutting was fair and equitable and I will be looking for assurances that most, if not all, of the cuts are temporary.

We do this in our homes. Money is tight, we cut the things that we can live without, focusing on the “necessities” and not the “niceties”. We may not like it, but we do it with hopes that we can gain them back when the dust settles. Sometimes it helps you figure out what things are really important and what you can, in fact, live without.

Still, this isn’t a free hand offered to the City, to hack and slash at things that they feel can be cut. Hopefully it will be done with a thought to “cause & effect”. If I cut this, what else may suffer, as a result. If I cut back the size of my fire crews, am I saving money at the cost of potential lose of life or property? What is the effect on Economic Development, if we close the SportsPlex for a year? In the past we have seen decisions made where they cause and effect wasn’t considered and the results caused more problems than they resolved.

You can be sure that I will also be on the lookout for things that don’t get cut, but probably could go by the wayside for a year or two. Travel, meetings, commissions and committee’s all cost money and I completely agree with the thought to putting a closer eye on things like cell phones and other IT related items. It may seem like nickel and diming, but those nickles and dimes can add up.

A hacksaw put to staffing would be a last resort and, if it does happen, it should be from the top down, not the bottom up. I am sure that there are a couple of redundant management positions that can be considered.

Finally there are the organizations that receive funding from the City, directly or by annual grants. For this there should be a simple process of review, to determine the return on the investment. Money being spent needs to have a reciprocal value attached to it. I don’t think it is too much to ask that the taxpayers dollar finds its way into projects that have a tangible benefit to the community, rather than a theoretical one.

At the end of the day, we will probably all hate the cuts that are coming, but better to suffer a little now, than a lot later.