Hunt For White Whale Continues...

The word on the street is that Mayor Paul Tomlinson has been grilling the town staff in an effort to find out who received a copy of the 2013 draft budget. Apparently, Tomlinson's monomania over the Concerned Citizens of Kearney blog hasn't abated any and he's now declaring that whoever was given a copy of the budget (available online) "must be the blog".

Which tells us that Tomlinson has never really had a clue as to who the editors of the blog are but is going to continue to lob wild accusations like hand-grenades in the hope that something horrible might happen to someone he thinks deserves it.

In the meantime, Tomlinson seems to have forgotten all about stuff like photocopiers and email which means that we can expect another poor schmuck will likely end up on the Proudfoot hit list just because he or she dared to take an interest in the town's finances.

Are you surprised?

Budget 2013: It Gets Worse!

If you've had a chance to review the 2013 Draft Budget, you will have noticed that a new format has been introduced which makes it extremely difficult to compare it with the 2012 Budget. The rationale may be for efficiency purposes however when you start to look more closely, you can see that there are many devils in the reformatted details.

It will take a little longer to work through this latest bundle of smoke and mirrors, but here are some troubling observations:

As we mentioned, the Kearney Library will lose all funding in 2013 (Budget page 10). The Library is told they can use “accumulated surplus” (Proudfootese for Reserve Funds) for 2013. So what happens in 2014?

Meanwhile Council is giving itself a pay raise of 21.8% raising their honorariums from $41,067 to $50,000. This will be this Council's third pay raise since taking office!

Municipal property taxes will increase by .4%. This is better than the 9.5% reductions in the last two budgets but it doesn’t even cover inflation. The Proudfoot bunch is keeping their commitment of reducing taxes at any cost. Low taxes always sounds good in a media sound-bite but the impact is to kill the library, kill Lions Park facilities, kill community festivals, kill jobs, kill the spirit of Kearney. Some day there will have to be a massive tax increase when the next council tries to bring Kearney back from the dead.

But the property tax story gets even worse. Total Taxation Revenue (Page 1) only increases by $13,527 while Education Levies increase by $23,849. In other words, the Town’s portion of property tax revenue goes down in 2013 by $10,322.00. This means the Town is not collecting enough to cover education taxes, which are set by the Province. The Town is obligated to collect a certain amount of education taxes as determined by the Province. Pretending that the line on tax increases is being held at little or no change, while this Council is subsidizing the shortfall out of municipal funds (at the expense of local programs and services) is disgusting. $10,322.00 of your tax dollars, that were supposed to fund things like the library are being slipped to the Province under the table.

We will leave things at this point for now. There is a great deal to fathom regarding the mismanagement of our tax-dollars, and it is becoming abundantly clear that the 2013 Draft Budget is fraught with deception and misuse of funds. Again, so the Proudfoot Bunch can cater to their masters.

Are you surprised?

Budget Committee to Kill Library Funding. Town Debt to Increase

The Kearney Budget Committee is in the process of developing the 2013 budget. We have had an opportunity to review the draft and our preliminary findings are not only disappointing in terms of sound financial planning but very alarming in terms of fundamental principles being violated.  We will be doing a more thorough analysis over the next few weeks, but here are some preliminary concerns:

• Operating Revenue the same or probably less from 2012 to 2013. See next point.
• Tax rate increase of 3% doesn’t meet average property assessment decrease of 5%. In other words, the tax rate will go up but property owners will still pay less because of the new assessments, so the Town will receive less revenue.
• Town debt increased by $200,000 because a loan is required for bridge repairs in 2013. In the past, bridge (and other infrastructure) repairs have been covered by Reserve Funds but they've already been depleted to pay for shortfalls in 2011 and 2012.
• A 2012 deficit is projected in spite of drawing from Reserve Funds to balance the 2012 Budget.
• For the third year in a row, nothing is budgeted to go into Reserve Funds in 2013, which will mean more borrowing for repairs to other infrastructure.
• We still have a $100,000/year CBO who only brings in about $28,000 in building permit and inspection revenues.
• And the list goes on.

But, one of the most alarming changes in the 2013 Budget is the removal of the entire funding for the Kearney Library. The Town of Kearney has always funded the operation of the Kearney Library and because of that, we have an up to-date, well managed library with healthy Reserve Funds for new books, new equipment, children's educational programs, etc.

In 2012, the Town’s funding for the Kearney Library was $25,360.00. For 2013, the library's funding will be ZERO! The Budget Committee's solution: The Kearney Library will just have to pay for its 2013 operating costs by using the library’s Reserve Funds. Of course, the Budget Committee doesn’t refer to it as the "Reserve Funds" in the budget. Instead they try to hide it with another of their usual flim-flams and list it as the “library accumulated surplus". If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance...

You may not always agree with what you read here but if there is one cause everyone needs to pay attention to it is the preservation of the Kearney Library. You need to speak up and make your voice heard. The 2013 Budget is still in its draft stage. Tell Council they need to stop this madness while there's still time. Stop the catering to special interest groups on the backs of the townspeople and our children!

We are already losing our Community Festivals and the beautiful pavilion at Lions Park. We cannot allow our library to die as well!

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

2013 BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING

THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN KEARNEY

2013 BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING

Senior’s Room, 8 MAIN STREET, KEARNEY

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2012

10:00 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Don't get your hopes up.

Duck Lake Development – Update

As you may recall, in 2002/2003 the Duck Lake Development Project was halted when the Grass & Loon Lake Residents Group, among others, appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to kill the project. Well, the Duck Lake Development Project is back, and the Town of Kearney was officially notified by letter in July 2012.

At the November 9th council meeting, regarding the Duck Lake Project, Mayor Paul Tomlinson and Councillor Steve Sainsbury declared a conflict of interest as they are both founding members and former directors of the Grass and Loon Lake Residents Group. Councillor Barry Dingwall, also a former member and director of the GLLRG, did not declare a conflict of interest. Instead, Dingwall led the discussion at the council table and managed to draw in the Town to pay for legal counsel involvement for the upcoming OMB Hearing on December 06, 2012.

Except there was no OMB Hearing on December 6th. It was a Pre-hearing Teleconference, specifying the parties involved. The Town of Kearney was not identified as an involved party but thanks to Councillor Dingwall, the Town's legal counsel participated. Unnecessarily and paid for by the Kearney taxpayer. Apparently, the Town has money to burn if it benefits the Proudfoot Four.

Also, to the moderator’s obvious surprise, Councillor Dingwall entered the teleconference and identified himself as “Councillor and seasonal resident”. Hmm... What does that mean?

Let’s look at the facts:

1. Tomlinson opposes the Duck Lake Project because it is across the road from his house.
2. Tomlinson forms the GLLRG specifically to oppose the Duck Lake Project. Tomlinson is President.
3. At November 9th council meeting, Tomlinson declares a conflict of interest.
4. Councillor Sainsbury is also a former director of the GLLRG so at November 9th council meeting, Sainsbury declares a conflict of interest.
5. Councillor Dingwall is also a former director of the GLLRG but at November 9th meeting Dingwall DOES NOT DECLARE a conflict of interest.
6. Councillor Dingwall participates in the November 9th council discussion, ropes in the town's lawyer, and unnecessarily attends the December 6th teleconference.

Now we hate to be critical of poor old Councillor Dingwall, but how blatantly stupid and arrogant is this latest transgression? We hope that the principals for the Duck Lake Project take note that Councillor Dingwall appears to have violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and, like Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, if pursued through the courts, could be forced to forfeit his seat at the council table.

Also note that both Mayor Tomlinson and Councillor Sainsbury may have also violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act since Mayor Tomlinson expressed his opposition to the Duck Lake Project in a July 2012 issue of the Almaguin News. And Tomlinson and Sainsbury, having excused themselves from the November 9th Meeting, because of their conflict, held their own private meeting in the hallway and continued to discuss the Duck Lake/OMB issue.

If the GLLRG remains opposed to the Duck Lake project through the current process, you can be fairly certain that the former GLLRG directors now on council will do everything they can to influence the Town’s position to oppose the project. Any discussions these members of council have, or have-had, or will have, while on council is in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act, Section 5.
Stay tuned, there is bound to be more.