Get to know your Norfolk County Councilor

With Norfolk County Council now in their last term and final budget meeting for this administration we thought we'd show some video's for Citizen's who either missed the meeting or would like to see it again.  We've taken video clips of the Mayor and each Councilor during the 2014 Tax Levy Budget deliberations.

Without further ado you can now watch your representative in action!

Best Employer in Norfolk County - Apply Now.

We know that the employment picture in Norfolk County is anything but rosy these days.  Nanticoke has been shut down, U.S. Steel is on again off again and even Solac Industries in Delhi has filed for Bankruptcy protection.  Good paying jobs are tough to come by in our area.  NCC is buying farms faster than Ginseng farmers can rent them not to mention the destruction of the once great logging industry being crushed by the Species At Risk Act.

Statistics Canada has just released their payroll and earnings report for 2013 and the average Canadian salary now stands at roughly $47,200 per year.  In 2012 the average salary was $46,000 up roughly 2.8%.

Professional, scientific and technical services averaged $65,675 per year while Health Care and Social Assistance were also up on average to $43,420.  Manufacturing came in at $54,000.

The largest increases were to local, municipal and regional public administration at $60,000 per year.

For the love of our Community and Citizen's that have been hard pressed to find any employment these days we've analyzed potential employers to see if we could find a way to help them out. We believe that we have found your dream job.

Is Norfolk County being taken for a RIDE?

Norfolk County Public Transit has recently came under fire in the budget talks.

If you didn't know already Norfolk County does have somewhat of a public transit system.  One bus actually.  http://www.ridenorfolk.ca/

In town rides cost $2 while a trip out of town will set you back $6 each way.

Delhi, Port Dover and Waterford residents can get into Simcoe 2 times a week with this current route.  Port Rowan and St Williams residents can get there once.  The service currently operates from 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday, holidays excluded.  As a means of getting around without a vehicle it appears to be at a reasonable cost to Citizens.  The bus is also available for private rentals.

The Fox is guarding the Hen House!

We've been asking for a while now about why we do not see input from Mr. John Ford on any financial matters being brought before Council.  One would think that a General Manager of Financial Services would have some input into these matters.  At a cost of $112,935.69 per year for his salary shouldn't his input be mandatory?

In Norfolk County's recent Budget debate it should be noted that Mr. Ford's presentation to Council is not available for Public viewing.  We like to call this selective transparency.

http://www.norfolkcounty.ca/government/financial-information-taxes-rates/financial-information/budget-information/tax-budgets/2014-tax-budgets/ 

Norfolks Best Kept Secret Unveiled

As you're aware, we here at the Norfolk Voice love to uncover data and display it in an easy to read format.  With the recent cold spell keeping us indoors more than usual we've been able to spend more time researching facts and figures.  This latest discovery couldn't have come at a better time.  With global warming getting frost warnings what better way is there to spend the day inside - baking!  In the financial meltdown of 2008 the lone stock market share that saw it's value increase was Campbell's Soup.  People love comfort food and we've uncovered a previously thought to have been misplaced special cookbook.

It's not just any cookbook either, it's a "Grannies Cookbook".  You know the kind of woman that you will never see pull out a cook book because after all the years of practice they know the recipes off by heart.  This makes it very difficult to recreate and to pass on to future generations.  We're very fortunate to have discovered this precious tome and will now share a comfort food recipe with you.

Grannies Cheese Biscuit Recipe!

A Record That Should Fall Under the Criminal Code

As Norfolk County prepares to start Budget reviews, we've taken historical figures and have created a chart on what has been happening these past five years.  It's our view that Council seems to always talk about service cuts but they never truly look at their own house.

In the chart below you will clearly see how Public Works has ballooned to unsustainable levels.  Public Works has risen a whooping 79% or just over $23-million dollars in those 5 years!

With Government costs soaring to out of control levels the pressure will be put on the tax payer to come up with these short falls.  Taxes have risen 22% and a modest increase will not be enough to bail out the bloated departments.

Corn or Beans This Year?

While Norfolk County sees some of the lowest temperatures to hit in recent years, Argentina has been experiencing a 100 degree heat wave until recently.  This has caused a temporary price increase on Corn and Wheat but Soybeans have remained under pressure.  Both Corn and Soybeans have seen their prices drop over last years highs.

The price of Maize on Monday was $5.03/bu while Soybeans were at $13.97/bu.  Norfolk's sand typically produces 150/bu per acre of Corn and 40/bu per acre of Soybeans. 

$754.50 / ac of Corn as compared to $558.80 / ac in Soybeans - gross.  With input costs to produce Corn much higher than beans, what will you grow this year?

Norfolk County Election Campaign Starts

In 2010 the Norfolk County Municipal Council election was one of the lowest voter turnouts on record.  Of the 46,556 eligible voters only 16,621 turned out to cast a ballot.  Voter apathy?  Absolutely.  How else can it be explained that two thirds of the population couldn't be bothered to cast a vote?

We're hearing from a lot of younger Citizen's and the consensus with them seems to be that Council will just do what they want anyway so what's the point of voting?  It's very unfortunate that this generation views politics this way and with all of the scandals going on can you blame them?

Long Point Region Conservation Authority Updates Website!

Say it's not so!  It appears that the LPRCA is finally updating it's 15 year old website and even providing data for a change.  Of course the financial statements are missing but at least more than one minutes of each meeting is now being provided so Citizen's can sort of see what is happening in this clandestine organization.  Well, at least for the year 2012.

LPRCA is even asking for donations for once and they could even possibly be looking at promoting their under utilized campgrounds to non-local people!  This is a miracle indeed.  Is the LPRCA looking to get off their constant suckling at the public teat and actually trying to promote their wonderful campgrounds and properties for the 1st time ever!  We know it sounds crazy but it may be possible that the LPRCA get's out of the tree slaughter business and looks to make money in other ways.  There are only so many forests that they do own and most have been seriously logged.