county taxes?

[blackjack]

...coppertop...i was just kidding about the user fee... but i do hear residents of calgary whining they pay the tax and the commuters from the airdries and okotoks get what they call a free ride when using the cities transportation system everyday...good luck to this danyluk fellow...he's goin need it...

[coppertop]

cowman, council members either know where the tax dollars and grant dollars are going, or they must be asleep during the budget deliberations. Most municipalities have half a dozen budget meetings with senior administration prior to passing the interim budget. Then they will finalize the budget and pass the mill rate at that time.

We used to spend days going through the budget of each department line by line, and usually sent department heads back to look for more efficiencies. Any municipal administration hates budget time....usually councillors are doing battle over capital projects, and during an election year it is usually a blood bath. Each councillor wants to look good to his constituents, which means getting some fairly large projects in their division.

I think you are being a bit tough on Linda, unless she is on the ASB she wouldn't know what their spraying policy is unless it is provided in the form of newsletters etc.

This county bought two new spray trucks and are losing the battle with weeds, particularly thistle and tansy in the ditches. The weed inspector sent a note to the neighbours advising them to pull the tansy in their pasture, they were told that it would be dealt with as soon as someone from the county started pulling the stuff in the ditch !!

[cakadu]

Cowman, it has been a couple of years at least since I sat on the ASB and the trucks were just getting going then. If you read my post, I said I haven't seen them out this way and copper is right - they don't exactly advertise when and where they are going to be out spraying.

I may not be able to take my card into the Red Deer Library, but I can order the books through the library out here, which is pretty much the same wouldn't you say? I don't have to drive to Red Deer to get it, I go to the school.

As far as Mr. Lougheed goes, he got in more because the vote was split than for any other reason. Had it been a 2 person race, the outcome may have been very different as evidenced in past elections.

I do believe farmers_son and copper in particular, have mentioned many times that being in public office is a thankless job and that there are many reasons that good people do not stick their necks out.

I will also stand by the fact that I think that there comes a time when there is new blood needed in any organization, government or association. You cannot solve a problem with the mindset that created it (Albert Einstein.)

Thanks for the support copper. I do believe that I have found my niche in life and am enjoying my job immensely.

[coppertop]

Linda, that is the main thing !! I really enjoyed being a farmer rep on the ASB here, then I ran for council and enjoyed the first four years. After that we had a huge division on council over paving local roads, most particularly, paving local roads close to where one councillor owned property. He would encourge groups of people to bring in petitions demanding their road be paved, when it was turned down, there were letters to the local paper that would make your hair curl. Once I was no longer on council he was able to get support toraise councillors honoaria to double, use the municipal reserves and debenture pavement. He and another counicllor went on trips far and wide at the tax dollars expense, and for a year and a half they really lived the high life. His big mistake, and he had the help of two others on council, was to cancel a long standing project that had worked its way to the top of the list, and include two roads in the budget for paving, that were not on the list, had not be rebuilt and happened to be adjacent to land he owned and land another councillor owned.
The public petitioned the minister for a complete review of council and governance practices and the consultant who performed the review was very scathing in his opinion of the actions of two council members. The Minister ordered that the road projects be cancelled, and two of equal cost that had a higher priority be done with the funds budgetted. This left one road a muddy mess all year, and the residents who had voted for their councillor on the promise of pavement past their door, had MUD instead.The Minister also ordered that the county take court action against the two members of council for acting in pecuniary interest. As far as we know this is the first time a Minister has had to direct that action be taken.

I watched all this from a safe distance, and was heartbroken to see what was happening to this community. It was written about in various large newspapers, on the radio etc.

The election in 2004 cleaned house, and the new council had a mess to clean up, reserves depleted to the point where the county would need to borrow for operating costs etc. They have done an excellent job getting their fiscal house in order, but many of them won't be back next year so who knows what sort of group we will have.

The most important thing in life is to enjoy what a person is doing, whether its out feeding critters or sitting in the board room.

[cowman]

Well I don't think I ever said it was an easy job? And anyone who takes a crack at it should be commended.
I might not agree with some of the things they do but I don't question their committment!
Even our former reeve who was a very contoversial guy? He was giving up his time and without a doubt going through a lot of stress because he believed in what he was doing?
Incidently I saw him in Red Deer a few weeks back and he said he is thinking about taking a run at the elected reeves spot! He has been busy in Arizona working on some land developement.
Linda: I'm not completely sure how your division was split up in realignment? I think basically division 6 and 5 are combined...or a good portion of each? I would think this would put Bell and Lougheed running in the same division? How do you see that playing out? Bell is pretty strong in his area...and I think a pretty decent councillor? Lougheed has had a few mistakes...in my opinion! He opposed the elected reeve at large issue...even though the people voted for it? I don't think that was smart? He doesn't seem to listen to his constituents !
I think Lougheed is fairly tightfisted(a good thing), where Bell is more open when it comes to spending money.

[cakadu]

Cowman, my understanding is that his division is gone - absorbed into divisions 6 and 4. Based on that, I think you can see why he has so vehemently opposed the elected reeve issue.

[coppertop]

Has your county decided to have an election for Reeve at large this fall ? It was necessary here to get rid of the dirty politics that always surrounded choosing reeve from amongst council members, however, it has certainly added to the cost of council. We have six councillors and an elected reeve. Prior to 2004 we had five councillors.WE have a seven member Ag Service Board which is too many. The costs have jumped sky high because every member attends conventions, summer tours, livestock industry conferences, manure management conferences etc.
When I was on the Board we had a policy of sending a maximum of two members to seminars, and the entire board to conventions and the summer tour. We had a five member board at that time.

Division boundaries were changed by the previous council, but I am hearing rumors that they may be amended again before spring.

[cakadu]

As far as I know they are still moving ahead with bringing the elected reeve to the 2007 election process.

There are still some councillors who don't believe it is a good idea, but they are going ahead with it. There is the one exception noted above and there is absolutely no way he has talked with all of his constituents on the issue, as there has never been a phone call, letter, request, or meeting to raise the issue.

Our ASB went to 3 councillors and 4 members at large, which is 2 more public members than what they had before. As to what they are able to attend, I'm not sure anymore. When I was on, the council members generally went to most things. I happened to raise the point at one meeting and it wasn't met with too much enthusiasm.

[coppertop]

I have no problem with members of any board or committee attending functions where they can network and share ideas, unfortunately some regard conferences as a social outing. I usually attend conferences for specific sessions or speakers.
Unfortunately the Reeve here is very set in his ways, and really isn't open to new ideas, so sending him to everything really isn't a good investment. His hand is always first up whenever there is a conference or seminar to attend. He and all the ASB get paid $320 per day for conference and meeting attendance out of this area, plus all their expenses and mileage, so a four day conference brings in a tidy sum. Again, I have no problem with the amount they are paid as long as the citizens of the municipalty receive some benefit.

[cakadu]

You bring up an interesting point copper. When they attend these conferences, presumably it is to increase their knowledge in order to help the municipality in some way. The councillors come back and may or may not make a report to council on what they have learned. As a rule, the citizens they are supposed to be serving rarely if ever get any report of any sort on what they are getting for their tax dollars.

Before I get jumped on, I am not expecting a 5 page report on what they feel they've learned, but we should be seeing some benefit for the amount spent. If your reeve is not learning anything new, or more to the point, putting it into practice, then what is the benefit in spending the dollars sending him?

I know that there are times when councillors are registered for things and end up being unable to go, but often registration fees are paid in advance - how do we recoup those fees - particularly if there isn't a good reason for missing, or if several of the councillors are no-shows?

[coppertop]

Linda, most Ag Service Board events will refund the registration if there is a valid reason for the delegate not being able to attend.

As far as reporting on what you learn goes, I used to compile a report and have copies availble for the general public at the front desk of the county office . Believe me, and I am not boasting, but I was the only member of council to do so, and likely none have done so since.In the early 90's prior to my being on the ASB, there had been a governance review of the county, and it indicated that all councillors should provide written reports when attending conferences, so I took my cue from that. Whenever there was a seminar coming up that I felt local ag producers would be interested in, I used to call as many as possible and ask them to let others know.

I realize that some people are better at written communicating than others are, but I do feel that taxpayers should get some sort of bang for their buck when it comes to sending their council or boards and committees off to attend functions out of the area.

Planning Commission and SDAB members usually attend at least one seminar per year, and what they learn there should assist them in the decision making process as they perform their duties on the planning commission or appeal board.It would be difficult to write a report that would be meaningful to the general public, but certainly the knowledge obtained would help those wishing to develop.

[cakadu]

I note that you said ASB events. I'm talking about other events where if you don't show, you pay anyway or you find someone else to take your place.

I do believe it particularly important that we hear about what is learned at events that are out of province and/or out of country. Oftentimes those types of excursions are quite costly and a report should be standard procedure.