A new story

Over the past few weeks council, reporters and others have listened as municipal staff, fire, police, ambulance and nursing home administrators have made their pitch for more funding. Most, if not all, present very good stories. Rich, authentic, compelling stories.

They tell stories of efficiency, of safety, of improved asset utilization—if only they had more funding. Many have an ominous recurring theme: pay now or pay much more later. They are scary stories—who can argue against efficiency, safety or preventive maintenance?

The folks, however, are telling stories with a false premise. They believe that if they tell a really good story, their project, department or enhancement proposal might survive the budget process. That council will have little choice but to grudgingly pass along the added costs to taxpayers.

They are wrong about this. Whether it is this year or the next or the one after that, the well eventually runs dry.

There is a limit to how much the taxpayer can bear. They must absorb this additional cost. Then folks have to make decisions about where they live, what they can eat and how often. In those circumstances it matters very little how many kilometres are on the truck that puts salt on the road or that a slick new machine is able to call you to advise there is an outbreak of blue green algae occurring in the bay. Too many County folks are already relying on food banks and charities to get by each week. Too many are being forced from their homes because they can no longer afford to live here. The discussion has to change.

No longer can the public discussion be about sharing the wealth and divvying up annual increases—but rather how we will share the sacrifice. How can we make do with less?

Not for our sakes alone—but for those who struggle in silence, out of sight. The seniors on fixed incomes—those who don’t receive five per cent increases. The families who see the cost of their children’s recreation activities soar due to the rising cost of operating County facilities.

It will be hard at first. Change always is. But we must get started. The good news is that municipal staff and related agencies start with a large cushion. The County took nearly $24 million out of taxpayers’ pockets last year—more than double the $10.3 million taken in 1998—a 130 per cent increase in 12 years. (The first draft of the County’s budget calls for an additional $2.3 million from the taxpayer in 2011—but let us pray this doesn’t survive council’s upcoming scrutiny.)

Factoring the County’s other sources of revenue, holding the line on last year’s taxes still gives the municipality nearly $58 million to spend in 2011. That ought to do for this year. It won’t be easy but it will have to do.

The message must penetrate every layer of municipal government that the story must change. No longer can public sector wages increase several times faster than the cost of living. Inflation has been wrung out of our economy for almost a decade—there is no economic, structural or moral basis for annual increases of three, four and five per cent any longer.

Wage rates must be frozen for this year and perhaps for the next couple of years. This doesn’t mean going backward— but it does mean no new increases. Perhaps if this municipality and a few others can show some resolve in taking the hard steps toward putting our house in order, the province and federal government might be shamed into doing the same.

But it begins with the recognition that times have changed. We cannot continue to do things as we’ve done them over the past 12 years. It just won’t work. Change needs to start today. We begin by changing the story.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca