As per usual Council started with their top secret closed door meeting and second up was an item on the agenda that just seemed to magically appear. With a reference to a mysterious staff report CSD 14.22 which we were unable to find and does not appear on the agenda, the County rented out 10 acres of land beside the Norfolk County Soccer Park to a farm company for the purpose of growing ginseng. With prime ginseng land now commanding $900 per acre you can likely bet the County settled for much less.
Not surprisingly another item on the agenda was yet another budget amendment. We would have liked to have seen a tender for Public Works who desperately needs a different dart board so they can have a better quoting system. A Port Dover water main replacement project just jumped up another $450,000. As per usual Engineering fees came in rounded to the nearest $1000 with the total cost for them being $147,000.
The Vittoria and District Community Center saw their parking lot extension approved with a total cost of $107,982.33. A total of ten companies took out the tender but only 1 actually put in a bid. The project had a budget of $90k. Donations covered $30k of the total costs. Engineering fees were relatively cheap at $7k if you compare it to the 9600 sq ft cement pad for the skate park in Port Rowan which had a tag of $10k even.
Add to the over run for the water supply study with a cost of $19k, $17 for the parking lot over run and the $450k water main, Council blew $486,982.33 on Tuesday evening. Thankfully this only happens once per week.
The Capital Status Report was also presented to Council.
In 2013 there were a total of 122 projects that were completed within their budget while 29 completed projects were over budget or 24%. Surprisingly enough this was a great improvement over 2012 where a whooping 43% of the completed projects were over budget.
In the gambling world this represents 3:1 odds of projects being over budget. OLG takes 25% of the cut from Bingo Halls which was also on the slate while Norfolk County receives 3% of the pot.
In case you missed the July 8th meeting where the County auditor does his presentation to Council we've recorded the video's for you.
Part 1 :
Part 2 :
In this series you can hear Peter Black asking if the County budgets for a surplus. Councilor Black is one of the most outspoken and longest term Councilors in the room. One would think that after so many terms you would have figured out the term 'balanced budget'. Little wonder he was crushed in his previous run to become Mayor. Mr. Ford's long winded explanation should clear it up for everyone.
Mr Black's justification for this far fetched idea of a balanced budget? Blame the Province.
Councilor Jim Oliver, "as a simple minded person" asks which surplus account is actual cash. We're not usually lost for words by Council's questions but this one has us stumped.
It's little wonder that these two gentlemen were the only ones on Council who voted to approve the solar panel installation project on County buildings that would have seen little or no return with great risk.
If you've watched any of the Council meetings over these painful years, it's fairly easy to see the most frugal members on Council are Mr. Roger Geysens and Mr. John Wells. Their silence speaks volumes.
Mr. Jeff O'Donnell explains, "We need to start saving for the future", "I like your chequing account but I don't like your savings account'.
With all of the problems that seem to be appearing with Norfolk County's budget, Councilor Betty Chanyi asks how the process works. She asks her question at 3:35 of the video. We are now enlightened as to how these silly budget things are done.
Other financial highlights :
Revenue rose from $161-m to $166-m
>Taxes brought it up by almost $2-m
>Provincial Grants brought it up by almost $2-m
>Dividend from Norfolk Power $1.
Expenses rose by $2.1-m to $158.6-m
>Policing dropped by $1-m
>Roads when up by $1-m
>Family Services increased by $1.6-m
>Social Housing was slashed by $2.4-m
Long Term Debt rose from $41.6-m to $43.8-m.
Nowhere to be heard in this meeting is the Net Increase(decrease) of Financial Assets. This mysterious number is likely the cause of Councilor Wells and Councilor Geysens silence.
We won't know the overall outcome of the financial reporting from Norfolk County as it is not publicly posted yet. With 59 of the 108 Municipalities in Western Ontario reporting into the Province, Norfolk County is not one of them. The financial presentation is not included anywhere on the County websites and was hand delivered to Councilors likely under oath to burn the document after reading.
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