The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Commentary by Jonathon Naylor Flin Flon City Council faces an admittedly arduous task in finding ways to reign in spending while meeting the demands of its citizenry. But this will be their most important function in the coming years. Municipal expenditures rose nearly 20 per cent between 2006 and 2011. Budgeted spending six years ago came in at $9 million; last year it totalled $10.74 million. Meanwhile, census figures released in 2007 showed Flin Flon lost 431 people between 2001 and 2006. In rough terms, for every 14 people who stayed in or moved to Flin Flon during that span, another one moved away or passed away. Ironically, the previous city council openly chided the Flin Flon School Board for not cutting spending despite a declining enrollment. Should council not hold themselves to the same standard with a shrinking populace? Harsh truth The harsh truth is that council's current path cannot be maintained. Spending more and more money on fewer and fewer people is mathematically unsustainable. Of course one must candidly acknowledge the very real financial burdens that are beyond council's control. In the past decade, legislation has compelled the construction of a $13-million sewage treatment plant and a $15.2-million water treatment plant now under construction. Council received some grants but still had to suddenly come up with millions upon millions of dollars on its own. A garbage-weighing scale at the landfill is another estimated $200,000 cost due to be forced onto us by the often-clueless politicians in Winnipeg. See 'How...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 At long last, Flin Flonners will be able to answer that all-important question that has dogged them for decades: How much does our trash weigh? While we're on the subject, who can forget the regulations that turned an ostensibly straightforward bridge reconstruction on Wallace Avenue into an out-of-control monstrosity costing nearly $1 million? So yes, we must sympathize with council and the often-impossible situations in which they are placed. But that does not mean they should not be held to account. That does not mean no room for improvement exists. Was municipalizing garbage collection, for instance, the most prudent maneuver considering the added costs it brings to the table: new garbage trucks every few years, fuel, extra employees, pensions and so on? The city took over trash collection in 2007 after their contractor, Waste Management, failed to deliver adequate service. But it is difficult to believe that had a reasonable tender been put out to replace Waste Management that no other contractor would have shown interest. This is not about the merits of private service versus public service, or non-unionized workers versus unionized workers, but merely the fiscal realities facing our fair city. If contracting out garbage collection, as was done for many years prior to city intervention, is indeed cheaper, then it should be part of the cash-crunching discussions at City Hall. Past councils have also weighed the merits of public transit, a service our close neighbours in Creighton have just brought to an end. With an aging population and more of our residents relying on welfare, there is a strong argument to be made for maintaining bus service in Flin Flon. But we must ask the honest question: Is what we have now overkill? The busses on the city routes are quite often empty, or nearly empty, and make hundreds of stops each week. We are not Winnipeg. A scaled down transit system may make more sense from an efficiency _ and financial _ point of view while impacting a seemingly small number of citizens. Of course some of the present debate over city spending may be moot considering council's 2011 budget placed the municipality in something of a fiscal straightjacket. Due to borrowing for the water treatment plant, the budget greatly limited the city's future borrowing capacity, casting doubt on major new capital projects for the foreseeable future. 'Not in the cards' As Coun. Colleen McKee, chair of the Finance Committee, put it: 'This means that borrowing dollars for any new projects, like a new pool or any new infrastructure, is simply not in the cards right now.' And so residents need to be realistic in their expectations of council. If we want a new swimming pool, new curling rinks, new parks _ whatever the case may be _ more of the burden must begin to fall on volunteers and private sources of funding, such as the HudBay Minerals 80th Anniversary Grant. At the same time, residents need to become more involved in the budgeting process. Attend a council meeting. Write a Letter to the Editor. Make your voice heard. Council does indeed face major financial challenges, but they should not have to do so without adequate input from the people footing the bills.
