Despite his demand that councillors not read our blog, it was fairly evident from the December 30th, 2010 edition of the Almaguin News that Mayor Paul Tomlinson reads us. Virtually everything Tomlinson had to say was an effort to counter many of the issues we've reported on here; Tomlinson's past handling of the budget, the firetruck, weekend council meetings, etc.
Let's go through Tomlinson's statements together, shall we?
Tomlinson says:
"[Weekend meetings] was a big issue that was in my campaign platform and we heard from the public, in no uncertain terms, if we are to [be] open and transparent Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm does not allow residents of Kearney to attend the council meetings."
"...Heard from the public..."? Unless we missed the poll, the only ones we ever heard from, about the council meetings, were Tomlinson's Proudfoot Cottage Association puppet-masters. And if 16% of the popular vote is "no uncertain terms", then it's pretty obvious that Tomlinson is only listening to a very select group of people.
Then there's, "...allow residents of Kearney to attend..."? Uh, Paul... The residents of Kearney actually live in Kearney and are in town on Wednesdays. If Tomlinson was concerned about the residents who might be at work during the day, he simply could have proposed that the time be changed. And, during the last four years, it was only every second meeting that was held on Wednesdays, while alternating meetings were held on the weekend. Having every meeting on the weekend is not about the residents, but the Proudfoot seasonal and part-time property owners who funded Tomlinson's campaign. Are we really supposed to believe it's just coincidence that two of Tomlinson's Proudfoot buddies, and his newly selected deputy mayor aren't in town during the week?
The previous council voted to alternate the meetings to reduce the overtime costs and safety risks of having staff working late into their Friday evenings and driving home in the dark after a long day. This balanced the needs of seasonal residents with fiscal responsibility and staff well-being. The latter being something that Tomlinson has repeatedly demonstrated he cares nothing about (You do remember when Councillor Tomlinson had to be barred from the town office after he repeatedly harassed town staff, don't you?). Actually, Tomlinson has repeatedly demonstrated that he cares nothing for fiscal responsibility, too!
Then there's "...open and transparent..." This coming from the man who, not having yet been sworn in as mayor, was holding a secret "council" meeting at his home on November 5th. When can we expect to see the minutes for that meeting?
On to the 2011 budget:
Tomlinson has abolished the Financial Management Advisory Committee in favour of an "ad hoc budgetary committee".
In 2009, the town of Kearney had an ad hoc budgetary committee, chaired by Paul Tomlinson. He held fourteen meetings with a privately contracted financial adviser attending each meeting just to do data-entry. As we so often mention, this financial advisor cost the Kearney taxpayer $50,000 (which is 2% of your property taxes). The reason there were so many meetings was that under Tomlinson's micromanagement the committee built the budget, addressed every single line, made arbitrary changes, and virtually wiped out every reconstructive project already in progress. This cost the Kearney taxpayer because these projects had to be completed under the 2010 budget at additional costs. One example was repairing partially reconstructed roads that badly deteriorated because Tomlinson's ad hoc budgetary committee cancelled funding to complete the work in 2009. This meant that all the partially reconstructed roads had to be rebuilt from scratch in 2010.
In 2010, with Tomlinson no longer involved, the Financial Management Advisory Committee was mandated to only became involved after the town staff had prepared a practical and defensible draft budget for the FMAC and Council to approve. This was accomplished after just three meetings instead of fourteen (without hiring a financial advisor), restored the five-year reconstruction program, and reduced municipal property taxes by 3%. Tomlinson tried to interfere with the committee, but was prevented by then Mayor Johnston. Now that he's in charge, Tomlinson wants to return to the costly, ineffective, and micromanaging style of 2009.
2009: With Tomlinson: An unnecessary 2% property tax increase and decreased infrastructure funding.
2010: Without Tomlinson: A 3% property tax decrease and increased infrastructure funding.
2011: With Tomlinson: ???
Tomlinson also mentions how "the committee" handled the purchase of the firetruck. Does he mean the same firetruck HIS ad hoc budgetary committee held for ransom when Council moved to have Tomlinson's buddy, Jim Skelton resign from that same committee for publicly libelling the town's fire chief? That firetruck, Paul?
And finally, Tomlinson says:
"[Town staff creating the budget] will either agree with the direction of council or make a case with why they can't".
In 2010, town staff proved that they could create a budget, that reduced taxes while increasing services, to a man who in 2009 proved that he didn't have a clue. But now they'll have to use their time, not serving the taxpayers of Kearney, but writing up business cases for Tomlinson and his Proudfoot cronies who still think that municipal taxes went up last year. (Louise Wadsworth says taxes went down 3%, while Barry Dingwall says they went up... Oh wait, he did finally admit that he wasn't talking about municipal taxes after all, didn't he). So, how much staff time and cost will be consumed building business cases to arrive at a budget that staff is very capable of creating from the beginning? Tomlinson doesn't care... just so long as he can impose his will and the will of his Proudfoot masters.
Are you surprised?
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