ottawa taxpayer advocacy group

Distracted council plus distracted managers = higher taxes

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In 2007 Ottawa was charging taxpayers 50% above the Canadian average for property taxes and utility. Ottawa had the worst record in Ontario and Canada. The thesis of enclosed document is: despite this fact and the recent economic down turn, Council does not view money management as their number one priority.  Listed below are some examples, but we will like you send us your examples so that we can build a case for a prioritization of Council time:

Shannon Tweed Day We have so many major issues to discuss e.g. departments exceeding their budget, the future of transit, compensation growth, flooded basements, H1 N1, unions breaking collective agreements, Lansdowne Live, living conditions in affordable housing units, drug treatment centre, stimulus money and refund of infrastructure levy, infrastructure deficit, do we need a new central library? etc. It is hard to imagine that despite all these looming issues, Council spent so much time discussing Shannon Tweed day. Is there no way that Council can allocate time based on the gravity of the issue? This would have flushed out surprises like NCC approvals for transit routes and an LRT project that is 50% over budget.

There is no reason why Council cannot use one week every month to review variance reports for each department, take decisions and come back next month to evaluate the effect of their decisions. In such a meeting Council could vote to reward a manager that has shown exceptional creativity and boldness in cutting costs, they could also vote to censure a department that has done nothing to become more efficient. As long as Council is distracted with issues like Shannon Tweed, they will not have SAP variance reports on their desk and they will not pay attention to the use of taxpayer money.  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/07/09/ottawa-shannon-tweed-day.html; http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=1776128

City Donations to Provincial Political Parties Why is the city using our tax money to provide free political advertising for provincial politicians who are still in office? Naming streets after sitting politicians is likely a violation of campaign donation limits for corporate institutions. This in kind donation by the city of Ottawa on behalf of Councillor George Bedard to the Ontario Liberal Party should be investigated by the ethics commissioner or similar official for the City, Province and Elections Ontario. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/idea+give+sitting+politicians+street+cred/2153276/story.html

Street Furniture ConsultantsHow much does the city spend annually on non engineering consultant reports? If a consultant is needed for every manager to prepare a report on their job, we must ask a logical question. Why are we wasting money because an employee is unable or unwilling to take the risk of producing a report internally? Consultants can be used for complex engineering / technology projects; however some people feel the use of consultants is being abused by senior city officials. The practice of deferring to consultant reports, sometimes using the findings, other times shelving the report, desperately needs reform. Why are we spending $275,000 from our capital reserve fund on street furniture consultants? Is there no one already working for the City who can make a decision on which adverts can appear on which furniture? https://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/trc/2008/09-03/04E%20%20-%20ACS2008-PWS-DCM-0001.htm

Pot Hole Teams Imagine a city bureaucracy that actually proposed $650,000 to hire 7 pot hole inspectors and an additional one-time capital funding amount of $430,000 simply for pot hole notifications? This money is better spent fixing roads. The city has 15,000 staff plus 22 councillors using the city roads many times a day, most have cell phones and other communication devices, it should be simple for this massive group to call in pot hole issues. This is a clear example of poor focus, management and the ongoing tendency to add costs and bureaucracy to solve the simplest problems. Worse yet, Councillors spend endless hours debating such ideas while the basements of taxpayers flood with sewage. http://www.mayorlarry.ca/2008/09/02/eyes-watching-for-potholes-technology-solution-please/

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