Chong Calls on Local Mayors to Cut Costs
Prince George, B.C. – As Mayors from all over the Province of B.C. huddle in Penticton to talk about how they can press the senior levels of government for a bigger piece of the tax pie, the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Ida Chong, says a shift in the funding may not resolve the problems being faced by municipalities.
Chong says simply giving local governments a bigger piece of the "tax pie" will not change the fact that there is only one taxpayer. “Reallocating current tax revenues could put in jeopardy the crucial services delivered by senior levels of government.”
Chong says while the Province recognizes the challenges of stretching tax dollars and meeting ongoing budgetary demands, she points out the Province has supported the work of local governments with $3 billion dollars in additional funding over the past ten years. “In addition to this provincial investment, we have secured more than $1.5 billion in federal funds for local governments to enhance community infrastructure.”
In addition to talking about the increased funding, Chong also suggests local governments turn their minds toward cutting costs. “B.C. has held its public service employees to zero wage increases over the past two years. The federal government is also reducing its civil service by 19,000 positions. Meanwhile, local governments have increased compensation to their employees every year – despite the recent global economic downturn.”
Chong says that rather than fight for more money from senior governments, all levels of government should be working together to “lift the burden on our taxpayers by re-evaluating the potential for shared services and identifying best practices so we can build infrastructure, maintain stability and keep British Columbians working.”
Comments
A preemptive strike with large figures thrown out which, by themselves, are totally meaningless. Someone in her ministry needs to do a bit more drilling to give us a figure that is a rate. A dollars per municipal population or per municipal taxpayer for each of the major municipalities of say 10,000 population. Include with that the municipal taxes and user fees paid for each of those municipalities. And finally, to close the circle as best as it can, the total income taxes collected by individuals located in those municipalities. Since corporate income taxes are often linked to head office addresses, they may be difficult to include, but hey, this is government and if there is a will there is a way.
Some of you may recall the example of downloading I used a while ago on here â TNW which had been receiving larger sums of government support from both feds and the province. They had received $118,000 from the province. That was cut to about half of that. The City then increased their charitable giving to match what the province had initially given.
I had written that the governments should get together to decide what their purpose was. We cannot work effectively when one government attempts to increase the burden of support to an organizationâs own devices and another undoes that strategy by giving more.
The provincial government has done nothing to control their costs as they have increased pay for the MLA’s, increased the size of the senior government by hiring more and more Manager’s and the associated non-union support staff all the while cutting the so called crucial services they provide.
Ms. Chong, clean up your government level first before calling everyone else wrong.
Sage advice from a government that has been on a spending spree over the past 1/2 dozen years or so.
I am a sinner, who does not expect forgiveness, but I’m not a politican. These people are whores, and the price is steep.
“B.C. has held its public service employees to zero wage increases over the past two years”
I wish people who should at least appear to be smarter than the average citizen would learn how to present comparable stats.
On the one hand we have increased money’s to municipalities over a 10 year period. On the other hand we have no wage increase for government employees over a 2 year period.
Please, give me a more meaningful figure for both. I like rates and changes over time.
So give us a figure of the money given to municiplities in some baseline year such as 2002 and then 2011 … which makes it 10 years.
We can then see the percentage increase over that time, preferrably in constant 2002 dollars, and compare it to the percentage increase in population.
Then follow through in a similar pattern for all other expenditures involving taxpayers.
One of those expenditures should be the total cost of government payroll, not whether they held the line in salary increases for two years. That is, for comparison purposes, a meaningless issue. If they hired more people, yet provided no salary increases, it is the payroll costs which is a key figure. In fact, if they spent significant sums of money to improve the productivity of staff, that should go into the equation as well.
Come on, Minister Chong, I expect a better argument from you and your government.
Just one word of caution. I expect my municipal government to present more meaningful statistics as well.
I think the best outcome of this integrated government session would be to improve the metrics being used to fight each other or work better together, whichever way you wish to approach this.
It appears those trips to China are useful after all. The answer is easy, just cut the wages of the working class or as Chong puts it:
âB.C. has held its public service employees to zero wage increases over the past two years. The federal government is also reducing its civil service by 19,000 positions. Meanwhile, local governments have increased compensation to their employees every year – despite the recent global economic downturn.â
In other words, the mantra is cut the wages of the working class, widen the gap between the have and have not, and life will be better. At least it will be better for the politicians who made sure their wages got a boast, despite the global economic downtown. 30% hike for our Mayor and Council. The perfect definition of Hypocracy.
Different characters but the same blah blah blah that we have been hearing from government at all levels for decades.
And that’s why the BC Libs are toast. Chong has no solutions save the Republican ones from down south.
No path, no future … no election win for Libs
Down loading on our local Governments then ask to cut more will fix the problem? Look at the size of the BC Government today and what those cost are and whats the return to the tax payer ZZZZZZIP.They have really lost it but seem to sing the Harper song, maybe we already have a new Government.
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