Vote…

The following is a copy of an email I recently sent to the CAO of Ajax- Brian Skinner and the Director of Finance, Rob Ford. (more…)

Just read this on metroland . No comment from councillors or questions . Approved.

Rob Ford, the Town’s director of finance, says the $2.55-million tab was a high-level estimate done in the space of two weeks to meet the stimulus funding deadlines and it was done without the necessary due diligence to figure out exactly how much the project would cost in order to meet the stimulus funding deadlines.

“We really had no choice if we wanted to tap into the funding,”

Ok , it’s another level of governments fault. Now I feel better. (more…)

As you all know I have been busy with my Mother and her living arrangements. When her house is sold I will be back to my regular self and be more plugged into what is happening but in the mean time I am relying on others. The following is a copy of what was read out at the General Governmental Committee Meeting on February 1st. (more…)

Here are the 5.5 million details.

I was called today to read about this “new” development in the restoration project of the Church. Here is a link to the story on Metroland.

“Repairs will cost Ajax an extra $250,000 on a multi-million dollar project”

“Mayor Parish said although he’d rather the problem didn’t exist, there was no way it could have been foreseen.”

hmmmm , not so fast.

You read about the Church Window issue here last year. I had asked some questions to a member of the Church Community, here is a small excerpt.

1a)Would the Town have purchased the Church without windows?

This is a question that should be asked of the Town.

We do know that the historical designation of the building highlighted the Stained Glass windows and the Steeple. This designation was declared after our Steering Committee began the design process and made it publicly known that our intent was to take the Stained Glass with us. In fact, we made the commitment to our faith community that the Stained Glass windows would be used as a testament to our heritage.

We also investigated with our architect the possibility of retaining the bell tower, but it was cost prohibitive, and the consultant said that so much of the old brick work would have needed to be replaced that essentially it would become a replica of the original.

We were not surprised. Why is the Town saying they are surprised. They were told. Cost Prohibitive is relevant to the money you want to spend, what is prohibitive to you may not be to someone else , the Church was aware the brickwork in the steeple was so bad it would have to be rebuilt.

If an architect who did not actually get on a scaffold know , why didn’t the sole source architect the Town of Ajax hired know the steeple would have to be rebuilt ?

This happens in so many projects, a bid is made then later it is amended due to unforeseen costs.

That is what it appears to be. The Town of Ajax is going to expropriate land because the owners plans do not fit with the plans of the Town.

I am not sure on this yet. I know we have purchased land by the lake for parkland etc.

What do you think about this? Should Ajax again be spending tax dollars buying more land ? Should we work with the owners to come to a compromise on their site-plan?

“The value of the land was appraised at $5.5 million by the Town in June 2009″.

The current site plan for the land, submitted by Hi-Rise Structures Inc., Fineway Properties Limited and Giomardi Holdings Inc., is inconsistent with the Town’s vision for the downtown and this key gateway property, and falls significantly short of fulfilling the planning objectives for the area. It includes minimal density, which is not in keeping with Ontario’s Growth Plan, various low rise buildings, and no landmark structures, front facades or pedestrian entranceways.

Why does the Town always do these things in the middle of the summer ? What do other Municipalities do when in this scenario ? Is it cheaper to expropriate the land then fight out development issues with the owners at the OMB ?

The current site plan pretty well describes most of Ajax that even this current council has approved .

I emailed the Mayor of Sarnia yesterday and had a response today! , on a holiday even I will add. Sarnia is a City of about 71,149 (2006 Census) people but the Mayor has been in place for 20 years and before that he was involved in Provincial Government, here is his Bio. Here is the final excerpt from lower down on the page. I want to be sure people understand that this Mayor has an extensive background and I don’t even live in his City but he found the time to provide me a response to my question that I was seeking the perspective from someone leading a Council. When I want to know something from a Mayor’s perspective, He seems to be the one I go to! (more…)

Here is a spreadsheet that shows all 100k Salary Members for 2008 and their previous years to 2001.

Only if you see a name on 2008 are they included for other years. Here is a link, the Charts are separate as an image. I just saved the excel as a web-page so my server I think did not like the chart code.
Chart for Salary Increases as % Year over Year and here is a chart of Ajax growth to 2021 projected.

At this point I still want answers to my previous posts.

Citizens are very touchy when it comes to this, we are hiring consultants all the time it seems, we never have enough facilities but the existing senior staff are able to get raises and increases higher then anyone would expect. I just don’t get it.

I am not bashing on a parks and rec people or some other worker slaving away for 60,000 - 90,000 a year.

I am not calling anyone a crook or saying anything is highway robbery, Just give me a straight answer on how the Municipal world works in this regard.

Are there salary caps for positions ? are we just to continue increasing the pay for a job as new people move here? Will a clerk make a million dollars at some point? Where does the line end ?

Remember this next budget year and next election, ask your councillor ! Ask your councillor for an explanation.

The last report from staff on remuneration only pertained to the Councillors, why? Who were the ones that only got the 3.25% raise like I was told ?????????

I have come to the conclusion that the term “Service Levels” and Maintain service levels, does not mean service — it means raises and salaries. Not the Service.

Thank god I did not do this for the Region Level!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go see what the Head guy at OMERS is paid. Shakes head.

Note: All data is from public available information– Ministry of Finance, Town of Ajax for population info and Census.
The Town of Ajax provides the salaries to the Ministry. of Finance - Ontario

Definitions

Salary - The amount shown as “salary paid” in this compendium may not represent the employee’s annual rate of salary in 2008. The salary required to be made public under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996 reflects the amount to be reported to the Canada Revenue Agency on the employer’s T-4 slip for the employee. The “T-4 amounts” may include components that relate to a year prior to 2008. These may result, for example, from retroactive revisions to salary scales, from grievance payments or from vacation pay-outs upon exit from employment. Note also that the “T-4 amounts” may exceed the employee’s annual rate of salary if the employee worked overtime during the year. The “T-4 amounts” may be less than the annual rate of salary if the employee worked only part of a year.

Taxable Benefits - The amount shown as taxable benefits is the amount shown on the T-4 slip as prepared for the Canada Revenue Agency. These amounts can include free or subsidized housing, board and lodging, travel in a designated area, personal use of employer’s vehicle, interest-free and low-interest loans, other payments made on behalf of the employee such as relocation costs, employer contributions for basic life insurance, and tuition reimbursements.

Here is a link to all the information. I can’t attend this meeting as I have a prior commitment involving a kids program I run.

Please take the time to attend and ask questions on the budget- it is your tax dollars after all.

Questions to Candidates coming next post.

The one thing that stuck in my mind from the Budget understanding session was the explanation of why increases can’t always be kept to inflation. There is this thing called a “Basket of Goods” this is what it costs on average for staples and they measure the CPI inflation increases by this.

It was explained that the “Municipal Basket of goods” so to speak can not be compared in the same way. This article is from Edmonton but it looks like it would apply here. (more…)

I have recently arrived home from the presentation for understanding the budget process. It was the best turnout they have had out of the 4 sessions- 2 day and 2 evening.
Attendance has been: 2 and 2 and 2 and tonight was about 10 — Citizens ! Not a councillor in site- extra bonus No offence to councillors.

(more…)