“Planning for a Zombie Apocalypse” article.
It’s been one of our most read posts and strengthens our views that the Citizens of Norfolk County want to stay informed about what is happening to the community. Either that or there are a lot of believers in Zombie Apocalypses!
Unfortunately for those people, we’re sorry to say that Norfolk County does not appear to have a plan after all. It should be noted that a Mock Zombie Apocalypse could be something for which Norfolk could plan. If our Tourism Department took it upon themselves to promote such an event, it could be the largest in Ontario. We’d suggest Delhi because of their recent problems with Harvest Fest. There’s not nearly as many farms left in the County for Harvest Fest and likely no Engineered Drawings would be required for the Zombie Fest. We're sure the Halls in Delhi would appreciate the ‘walkers’ and would be best suited for accommodating them.
You could always ping clark.hoskin@norfolkcounty.ca if interested in something that would rival Friday the 13th in Port Dover or Friendship Festival for Simcoe. Delhi has more of a Zombie feel now that the agricultural businesses have left. A far cry from the once glory days.
Mr. Clark Hoskin Manager Economic Development x 1238 (Salary $102,572.88)
After hearing from Mr. Chris Baird regarding our “Planning for a Zombie Apocalypse” and its reference to his Planning and Economical Development Department we felt that more data needed to be provided and compared. While Norfolk County apparently does not have 46 planners, they do have 46 full time staff in the Planning and Economical Development Department. We have changed the wording on our previous post to reflect this.
We would have to disagree with Mr. Baird when he states that other Municipalities post their PEDD staff in the ‘other’ category. PEDD has its own expense category in the Consolidated Statement of Operations : Expenses section so we would find it hard to believe that only Norfolk fills out the Financial Information Return correctly and the staff should be tied back to the expense portion.
Even so we’ve included a chart to show other Municipalities ‘other’ staff at the bottom of this post.
Please also see the bottom of this post for a link to where the backup documents can be verified.
We’ve updated our previous article which now states the difference between the Tier levels of Municipalities that we had compared. We couldn’t agree more with Mr. Baird that the Municipal Performance Measurement Program is weak at best. At least the data is there for the most part but could certainly be improved upon. We’d like to see an advance search / comparison tool that would be web based with various selectable metrics for efficiency grading. This however could easily turn into the next E-Health scandal with their current IT track record. We’ve taken the two Upper Tier Municipalities out of the data below to more evenly reflect the comparisons.
Even though Norfolk County Council imposed a hiring freeze at Councilor John Wells request, the PEDD department in August asked for a repeal of that bylaw because of the work load their department faces. We were unable to find the ‘Attachment A’ mentioned in the Staff Report CM13-01 that we presume would justify the 3 additional staff.
Hiring Freeze http://www.portdovermapleleaf.com/no-new-hires-for-norfolk-in-2013/
Hiring Thaw http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/2013/08/28/county-approves-hiring-three-temporary-workers-to-meet-increased-workload
Unfortunately for the frugal Mr. Wells his lone vote could not contain the additional costs. What we did find bothersome was the fact that none of the Councilors had solid facts in front of them from the high priced General Manager of Financial Services, Mr. John Ford. Where was his input on this matter? It didn’t take long for us to put together departmental costs and if these numbers were matched to the increase in taxable value based on permit applications(at a minimum), Mr. Wells would have had his questions answered. This would have let the Councilors make informed decisions without having to wait until after the fiscal year ends to see the damage done. Council would then know the cost of being ‘Open for Business’.
If Council is mislead by Staff, it could result in one Manager asking Council to make a decision on a road closure that gives it to his wife without some of the councillors knowing it.
Here are the numbers you've all been waiting for :
| Year | Dept Cost | Of Permits | Value of Permits | Per Month | Cost / Permit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $7,352,539 | 931 | $84,246,046 | 78 | $7,897.46 |
| 2011 | $8,352,606 | 947 | $63,093,691 | 79 | $8,820.07 |
| 2010 | $8,024,290 | 910 | $72,740,770 | 76 | $8,817.90 |
| 2009 | $6,299,396 | 955 | $252,827,760 | 80 | $6,596.23 |
| 2008 | $6,076,193 | 905 | $62,352,740 | 75 | $6,714.03 |
| 2007 | $5,514,008 | 984 | $97,702,952 | 82 | $5,603.67 |
| 2006 | $5,931,174 | 984 | $97,702,952 | 82 | $6,027.62 |
Changes From 2007 to 2012
(we're leaving out 2006 since the 07 & 06 permit values are the exact same. We assume an error from the County when submitting the figures)
Department Cost has increased $1,838,531 (33%)
Departmental Salaries have increased by $403,725 (27%)
Number of Permits has decreased by 53
Value of Permits has decreased $13,456,906 (-14%)
Cost of Each Permit has risen by $2,293.79 each
Departmental Cost Breakdown
| Year | Full Time | Part Time | Seasonal | Salaries | Materials | Contractors | Cost b4 Adjustment | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 46 | 18 | $1,902,694 | $1,356,819 | $650,639 | $4,066,141 | $7,352,539 | |
| 2011 | 49 | 19 | $2,084,273 | $463,126 | $1,735,609 | $4,417,807 | $8,352,606 | |
| 2010 | 47 | 4 | 17 | $2,112,042 | $766,945 | $781,233 | $3,841,945 | $8,024,290 |
| 2009 | 46 | 5 | 20 | $1,726,285 | $1,071,624 | $596,428 | $3,484,564 | $6,299,396 |
| 2008 | 47 | 4 | 25 | $1,612,314 | $83,443 | $927,646 | $2,750,379 | $6,076,193 |
| 2007 | 44 | 2 | 19 | $1,498,969 | $91,851 | $535,236 | $2,220,922 | $5,514,008 |
| 2006 | 44 | 2 | 19 | $1,416,898 | $137,293 | $638,908 | $2,275,094 | $5,931,174 |
Staff levels have pretty much stayed the same with 2 part time staff assuming full time roles and 1 less seasonal staff. Norfolk is the only Single Tier Municipality that employees seasonal staff. Our Planning Staff must like to tan?
Material costs have soared since 2009 and an explantion should be forthcoming. (1377%)
The value of permits soared to a massive $252 million in 2009 and costs stayed inline. Good job.
With almost the lowest value of permits being issued in 2011, the Contractors Cost alone came in at over double the highest year and triple the cost most years.
Planning and Economical Development Staff Comparison (2012)
| Planning Staff | Full Time | Part Time | Seasonal | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor | 86 | 86 | ||
| Norfolk | 46 | 18 | 64 | |
| London | 37 | 37 | ||
| Waterloo | 27 | 5 | 32 | |
| Brant County | 20 | 2 | 22 | |
| Guelph | 20 | 20 | ||
| Brantford | 17 | 17 | ||
| St Thomas | 5 | 5 |
Staff per Capita
| Muncipality | Population | Staff per Capita |
|---|---|---|
| Norfolk | 63,000 | 984 |
| Brant County | 30,940 | 1,406 |
| Windsor | 210,891 | 2,452 |
| Waterloo | 129,100 | 4,034 |
| Brantford | 94,586 | 5,564 |
| Guelph | 121,688 | 6,084 |
| St Thomas | 37,905 | 7,581 |
| London | 369,940 | 9,998 |
Municipal Staff (2012)
| Municipal Staff | Full Time | Part Time | Seasonal | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 3067 | 217 | 1656 | 4940 |
| Windsor | 2303 | 399 | 530 | 3232 |
| Guelph | 1168 | 674 | 152 | 1994 |
| Brantford | 1063 | 379 | 207 | 1649 |
| Norfolk | 602 | 234 | 185 | 1021 |
| Waterloo | 530 | 407 | 42 | 979 |
| Brant County | 218 | 218 | 261 | 697 |
| St Thomas | 396 | 107 | 96 | 599 |
| Staff - Other | Full time | Part time | Seasonal | Total |
| Guelph | 517 | 315 | 47 | 879 |
| Windsor | 389 | 88 | 0 | 477 |
| London | 235 | 3 | 8 | 246 |
| Brantford | 113 | 11 | 27 | 151 |
| Waterloo | 27 | 5 | 0 | 32 |
| St Thomas | 0 | 5 | 13 | 18 |
| Brant County | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Norfolk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
http://csconramp.mah.gov.on.ca/fir/Welcome.htm
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