My late father used to go to the barber once a week for a trim. It was a bit of a family joke as my Dad was near bald.
I suspect Council learned its trimming skills from that barber. Some of this budget's trimming (SP Dec. 16/10) was a cross between "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and a shell game.
I'm not sure what the money originally allocated for the New 2U program was going to cover but obviously it wasn't necessary. Maybe Hill wanted to be reimbursed for his billboard signs. As for the transit "overtime" does this mean when the budget line for that item reaches its limit that the drivers quit driving? Increasing expected revenues for leisure services sounds a little iffy since none of us will have dollars left to spend on leisure. This is right up there with the school board balancing its budget by using reserves.
I think candidates for council should have to take a little exam on accounting before they are eligible to run for election. Or at least have the exam results published during the campaign.
PS Thank you little holiday helper for yesterday's guest blog.
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Donauer
ReplyDeleteHill
Heidt
Neault
Dubois
Penner (I think)
Each promised (Donauer last month, the others in Oct 2009) to keep tax increases to about 2%.
Chalk up Donauer's first broken promise and the second for the others.
Let's not forget Atch's tax pledge when first elected as Mayor in 2003.
I commented on the increasing expected revenue on yesterday's post. Are they dumb? Do they think for a second that by simply increasing expected revenue will change anything. My first question when I call my councillor tonight will be: were the expected revenues of leisure facilities misstated previously or are they misstated now? What changed in the last day that the expected revenues shot up?
ReplyDeleteThey are simply cooking the books to artificially create a lower mill rate, which falls somewhere between extremely dishonest and criminal (Honestly, isn't it a crime to knowingly misstate finances?).
Worst of all is the slap in the face to put mill rate at 3.99%.....just a sliver under 4%.
At this point, I would almost vote for Lenore Swystum over the Atch if it came down to it. My campaign slogan "Anyone but Atch"
Lets be careful what we say. It is unfortunate to have to increase taxes, but to say you would have almost voted in Swystun?? C'mon, really though? If you dont like 3.99% you wouldn't like 6.99%. City run blue box and heritage everything would be costing even more!!
ReplyDeletewhat an ignorant statement Anon 11:23.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather pathetic that the so-called "left" is portrayed as out-of-control spenders, yet it was the "left" who pulled this province from the brink of Devine's bankruptcy, the "left" who curtailed Mulroney's mess, and the "left" who turned Reagan's trickle-down economics black hole into a massive surplus that in 2000 was on track to make America debt-free by 2012.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile in good ol' Saskatoon, the "right" has ballooned civic debt 650% and jacked up taxes 30% on their Magic Beans platform.
But Gormley sock puppets continue to throw out baseless accusations of what could be - with no evidence beyond mindless rhetoric that has historically proven itself completely untrue.
Ignorant indeed, anon @ 11:23.
To Anon 8:01AM
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get your information. There's at least 2 councillors you listed there that said nothing of the sort in their election campaign.
Good grief...Quit making things up!
Anon 5:18AM. It wasn't made up.
ReplyDeletehttp://civicmistress.blogspot.com/2009/10/whats-new.html
And Donauer agreed to the same question last month during his campaign.
Anon @ 1:19.
ReplyDeleteTalk about ignorance. The "left " didn't create a surplus in the US; the Republican-controlled Congress did that.
And while one could give credit to Chretien for "curtailing Mulroney's mess", in reality it was the emergence of the fiscal right --primarly in the form of the Reform Party --who forced the Liberals to act in austerity measures (even if most of their cuts came at the expense of provincial budgets).
And despite the Devine boogeyman that the NDP still trot out whenever they are out of arguments, can anyone imagine how deep this province's fiscal situation would be if Blakeney had won in the early 1980s?
Still, this is not to say that the "Left", as you put it, is incapable of behaving in a fiscally responsible manner.
Unfortunately, Lenore Swytsun gave no indication of this trait during her last run for mayor.
The left only produces surpluses by taxing the hell out of the people. Easy to balance budgets when you socialize the country I guess.
ReplyDeleteNice try @ 7:08...
ReplyDeleteIf the Republicans as a party were such good stewards of the economy, how is it once Clinton's team left the White House and the Republicans lost all checks and balances, the wheels fell off the US economy again?
Also, your argument that Reform is to credit for fixing the Mulroney mess may have some resonance, but the fact of the matter is it took a "left" government to implement fiscal austerity.
And you still resort to the same puppeteering act of "What would have happened if..." with regard to Blakeney. Blakeney left Saskatchewan at its wealthiest point in its history in 1981: Literally billions in the bank. Grant Devine damn-near bankrupted Saskatchewan. Period.
Perhaps your argument would hold more credence if you didn't resort to the same "boogyman" tactics of vapid rhetoric you deride.
All I know is conservatives in Saskatchewan be it Devine who put the province near bankruptcy or Wall who allowed for the biggest budget deficit in the provinces history are bad with taxpayers money.
ReplyDeleteAnyone but Atch is your slogan. Well lets run down the list of of people you could have voted for last election.
ReplyDeleteSteve Lawrence- his major idea was to bobcat the downtown bus mall himself and throw down some gravel. Right a gravel pit in the middle of the downtown. I am sure BHP new office would appreciate that.
Chernoff - I believe at the debate at the university he blamed the queen for our problems. He had some great conspiracy theories. He would probably help attract money for infrastructure funding....not!!
Swystun- Lenore is without a doubt a smart woman. However I am in disagreement with many of her policies, all of which would cost money!! If it were up to her the riverbank would continue to look like it did 30 years ago, which is unfriendly and not useful. We would still have a legion and an old beatup building that no landlord would take on because of the upgrades that would be needed. Imagine the tax dollars needed to upgrade and maintain every heritage building.
I am ranting. If you think we are better off with someone other than Atch, than I suggest you find that someone, because there sure wasnt anybody even close in the last election.
Having Atch as Mayor is costing us money!!
ReplyDeleteI find it hilarious that the 'left' is citing the Democrats for financial prudence. Do you realize that even the leftest leaning Democrat is probably more right-wing than any Conservative party member?
ReplyDeletePlease have an idea of the political spectrum before making ill informed comments. Obama's policies make Harper look like a socialist.
I actually went to the Save the Mendel site with an open mind. The site lost all credibility when the cited the kook who blogs for Owls and Roosters. While I don't call everyone who disagrees with my views a kook, the fellow at Owls and Roosters is very much out to lunch and has zero credibility....is that really the horse the Mendel crowd wants to hitch to.
ReplyDeleteOwls and Roosters does a good job of digging into issues that nobody else does in Saskatoon. The rheortic may be over the top alot of the times, but the amount that is uncovered is quite amazing.
ReplyDelete"Do you realize that even the leftest leaning Democrat is probably more right-wing than any Conservative party member?"
ReplyDeleteDo you realize how stupid you sound given the number of far left democrats that are elected?
You can't be serious that you put any credence in what Kutcha says? The extent of his discoveries are conspiracy based on denial of access for information requests.
ReplyDeleteThe second that he digs, researches or uncovers anything that is not damning to the right is the time I will give him an ounce of credit. It is just a biased one sided twist on every story (sort of a creepier more involved version of NDP boogeyman)
"The second that he digs, researches or uncovers anything that is not damning to the right is the time I will give him an ounce of credit. It is just a biased one sided twist on every story (sort of a creepier more involved version of NDP boogeyman)"
ReplyDeleteYeah, raising serious concerns is somehow creepy compared to a Saskatchewan taxpayer funded Saskatchewan party caucus run blog....
"Yeah, raising serious concerns is somehow creepy compared to a Saskatchewan taxpayer funded Saskatchewan party caucus run blog...."
ReplyDeleteThis is about the fifth time this point has eben raised, does anybody have evidence of this or is this another Owls and Roosters smear type accusation?
To Anon above, my primary concern comes from whenever someone with a hard line agenda presents out of context material and attempts to pass it off as the truth, that holds true for both sides of the political spectrum. I may not be like some of the above posters, but I have no hard political affiliation and my beliefs fall somewhere between the Sask Party and NDP.
But seriously, if the Sask Party is using tax money to run their own agenda driven blog (which rudely shoots down the NDP) then I think the issue should be brought to light. To those who keep saying that it is a Caucus run blog, where do you get this information from? Can you provide a link? Is there any evidence to support this?
Sure, read the artile Wall Slipping issue trust by Murray Mandryk.
ReplyDeleteNothing online when you search that (although not surprised your only source of evidence is Murray Mandryk aka the man with an axe to grind).
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible that a budget item pertaining to a blog set up to discredit the opposition gets through the budget? If the NDP were so stupid to allow this to happen then the probably deserve the ribbing they get on the blog.
If it is, as I suspect, simply a Sask Party member blogging on their spare time I don't how that translates to a Sask Party Caucus funded blog. Are you insinuating that no person employed by any political party has the right to blog?
Are you that stupid? It is a caucus staffer who is paid and is assigned to run a blog. Just like the Saskatchewan party was going to pay a caucus staffer to write letters to the editor. The Saskatchewan party staffer was named and was found to be running a blog during work hours.
ReplyDelete