Rural roads

[cowman]

Now personally I am all for privatization. In fact I believe they never took it far enough! Not near far enough!
The CAO assures me the savings on costs are real. The service...well who knows? How do you compare pre-privatization with today? I would suspect the traffic has at the very least doubled!
The focus of the municipality has to be on the population centers along highway II? That is what is paying the bills! I kind of get a kick out of someone complaining their road sucks when their taxes don't even pay for the maitenance! One guy told me he thought his road should be paved with the high taxes he was paying. I asked well how much do you pay? $2800! Would that pave twenty five feet!
Fact: farmland in this county pays 11% of the revenue. Residential and farmland together pay less than 30%! Guess who pays the rest? You got it...business and oil and gas...and the "business" is all related to oil and gas!
Red Deer county is one of the more progressive municipalitys in the province! They do things different, no doubt? I think the majority of the people think they did the right thing by privatizing some services? Now maybe I am wrong here but I do note the two councillors that were pro privatization were elected with a really strong majority of votes? We like free enterprize down here in Red Deer and don't buy into socialist drivel!

[coppertop]

YOu also have a gong show going with the city of Red Deer cowman and that costs big time tax dollars !!

I don't buy the theory that those who pay the most tax get the most services.All citizens should be treated equally regardless of how much tax they pay, that is why taxation based on assessment is an extremely poor formula for property tax. People who pay the large taxes some times feel they have the right to DEMAND more services, but the reason they pay higher taxes is because they chose to build more elaborate homes !!

I don't agree with you on privatization being a cost saving measure. Health care costs have gone sky high since the health authorities were regionalized and a lot of services were privatized. Hospitals used to run in the black doing meal preparation on site etc. Now in many areas meals are brought in pre-prepared and flash frozen. I bet the cost is significantly higher.

Privatization of liquor stores is another example. We used to have one in most communities of any size, and the government made lots of money. Now we have one on every block, there are more problems with alcohol abuse and the tax dollars are spent to clean up the social problems it causes !!!

[wilagro]

cowman: I LIKE socialist DRIVEL when it makes sense to use it.

Privitization is another scheme to HIDE what it really costs to do a job AND in some cases favors CERTAIN contractors who are connected to local councilors,

I have seen these cozy little situations and have heard of others from county employees.

Perhaps your lily-white county is different, but some others aren't.

[coppertop]

Our county tried using custom sprayers for two years, and ran their own small spray truck for some projects. The costs were astronomical, so they decided to rig up two spray trucks and use the same trucks for hauling sand in the winter.

There are significant savings, but you may be sure that the one county ratepayer that whined the loudest is the one that owns a spraying company.

I find that the local contractors expect to be awarded county jobs when times are slow in the oil patch but when the patch is booming they could care less about working for the county and certainly cannot be counted on to have equipment available in an emergency such as a wildfire, that is why our county continues to own several cats. They are used for small construction projects, clearing brush along road allowances etc.

[cowman]

Well actually the dispute with Red Deer has nothing to do with privatization. It has more to do with the county out competing the city for business developement.
County council and the senior administration say $1.5 million savings a year on operations. Are they liars?
And without a doubt I occasionally contract some service to the county so am not completely objective! As far as a "cozy little arrangement" goes....that is how business works? Or at least it sure is in my experience? I think it is always "one hand washes the other" so to speak?
This goes on in every business. The municipality is no different than dealing with the railroad, highways, oil companies or industrial.

[coppertop]

The mandate of municipalities is not to create work for private industry. It is to provide essential services in a fiscally responsibile manner, the level of that service will be dictated by what the citizens will accept.
If the service level has gone down due to contracting, then its up to the public to let their council know the want improvements.

[cowman]

Well the concept is by contracting out the county gets more bang for its buck? They don't contract out to spend more money and keep their buddies happy?
Is the service worse? I don't know...as I said before it would be like comparing apples to oranges..the traffic has more than doubled?
I am pretty sure this county will never go back to a public works department. There isn't one councillor who doesn't think private contracting out isn't a good thing and some of them have been around for a long time! My own councillor has been in for about 18 years and no one has even run against her for about the last dozen. Why? Because she does a good job, has common sense, and isn't bashful about speaking her mind. She'll have the job as long as she wants it.

[coppertop]

And she is respected across the province cowman. As far as being a FAN of councils, I am a FAN of your councillor, she is an honest, hardworking lady, and has given years to the citzens of Red Deer County. Being a municipal councillor is not for the faint of heart, the criticizms, snide comments etc. far outweigh the appreciation one receives.
When I made the decision to run for council it was at the urging of numerous people in my division, many of whom were fed up with the councillor who was in place at that time.
From the very first candidates forum where I spoke, I advised constituents that if they had a concern with a decision I made, or any other concern I could do very little about it if they didn't contact me and let me know.
It is a thankless job, and many people who would make excellent councillors will not consider running because they aren't prepared to subject themselves to the abuse they may receive.
I enjoyed my years on council, and I certainly tried to be fair and ensure I was informed before making any decisions. Once I was no longer on council it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to go out in the community without having to listen to someone complain about their road, ditch, how lazy the county staff were etc. I am being encouraged to run again next year in the municipal election but my answer is ' no thanks, I have done my time'.