Talking Points

March 23rd at Harrison Park Inn 8:00am to 9:30am
The Owen Sound & District Chamber of Commerce are holding a Mixer with City Council. This is the perfect opportunity to ask members of Council when they are going to save us $4 million a year by reducing city hall staff to match that of similarly sized municipalities delivering similar services.

You don't need to be a member to attend.

Get tickets here:  Chamber Tickets

Read my letter to members of the Chamber of Commerce

Preview of Next Article

 

 Overstaffing at City Hall
is costing taxpayers $5.8 million per year relative to Strathroy
(that represents 17.6% of this year's tax levy)

Owen Sound city hall is grossly overstaffed in comparison to
similarly sized municipalities delivering similar services.

Want to save 17.6% on your taxes each year?

Email your councilors here 

If you don't speak up Council will rely on an expensive consultant's report, coming out in May, to either not make any changes at all, or to make only minor, symbolic, changes. Why? - because staff, not council, are the real decision makers at city hall. I will address the critical factors involved that make this possible and allow staff to drive decisions at city hall in a future article.
   

Comparison Not Including Protective Services
  Salaries & Benefits Number Earning > $100,000 Number of Managers
  Owen Sound   $13,025,279

19

 29
  Strathroy    $7,245,246

9

 15
  Over Staffing   $5,780,033

10

 14

    

Budget

The Excessive Payroll Problem
 

Salaries and Benefits Expense for Similarly Sized Municipalities

 

Managers with Salaries Greater Than $100,000  

 

Estimated Number of Managers

 

Summary

1. Owen Sound’s workforce has grown well beyond that employed by other, similarly sized, municipalities and has been excessively high for many years.

2. The management team is, at a minimum, carrying 6-9 managers more than needed in comparison with other similarly sized municipalities.

3. The Owen Sound City Hall Payroll is at a minimum $4 million more than it should be which is costing each and every taxpayer $2,000 to $3,000 more in property taxes than other similarly sized municipalities.

Call or Email or Text members of Council and tell them to Act Now!

Click here to email your councilors

 

Need more Proof?

Click Here

 
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17 comments on 3 pages
I think your advice on staff reductions is right on. City staff have grown well beyond what is needed to run a city of our size. Do you think they have the courage to address this issue? If they don't we will continue to have chronic problems at city hall.  
Helen Bronson
73 employees making over 100.000 a year in a town of 21.000....thats disgusting!!...no wonder Owen Sound taxes are so high.....this needs to be investigated at once. ..there is a real clique at city hall...time Owen Sound taxpayers got relief from unbelievable property taxes....Way past time for city manager to set this unjustice straight...get on it!!  
Ken Baker
Always said . City hall was way overstuffed....with more managers than surrounding towns our size.....size... another way to save the taxpayers money is by having a mixture of volunteers and full time fire men.. a composite fire department....Owen Sound is one of the last small towns in Canada to have all full time firemen....Seems to be a sacred cow here in this town to make the change..  
KenBaker
I read your previous post on exactly what council did in approving the budget. First it was good to see staff presented a budget with a very small increase. However it was extremely disappointing that our elected representatives did not pair this down even more to give us a small tax reduction. Instead our trusted elected representatives actually increased spending to add to the increase. Then the mayor had the audacity to brag about what a good job they did. What good job? They added to the increase - that's not good!  
John Britten
I recall last year our council gave the transit a $500,000 budget increase that it turned out they didn’t need because the contract came in much lower than anticipated. Was that where the budget reductions came from to enable the tax increase of less than 1%? If so this was really an illusion or slight of hand so stand by for a big tax increase next year.  
Helen Bronson
BROKEN PROMISES Both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor talked about reducing taxes during the election The Deputy Mayor even promised to create a Budget Committee. However when given a chance to do something they actually added to the tax increase in the draft budget. Sad 😞  
Judy Grimes

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