Woodstock's finances are in a good position
By Mark Schadenberg
Thanks to long-term planning and a low debt load,
Woodstock is in a good place financially.
I don’t know how many emails a day Woodstock mayor Pat
Sobeski might receive, but he answered a question for me without replying to my
cyberspace inquiry.
In the March edition of What’s On Woodstock (WOW) magazine,
the mayor’s speech on Page 4 includes a breakdown of some area municipal debts
as researched by the analytical numbers firm known as BMA Consulting (www.bmaconsult.com) based in Hamilton.
According to WOW, the 2010 BMA numbers had Woodstock’s
debt at $309 per person – not household – but per citizen. The totals for other neighbouring cities were
as follows: Kitchener ($953), Waterloo ($1,829), London ($2,262), and Stratford
($5,958) per resident.
Cash Flow At Queen's Park
Like all taxpayers I shutter when I hear about the
deficits carried by both the province and the nationwide folks in Ottawa. One
would hope there is a window (shutter / window pun intended) for decreasing
these runaway amounts. Quite frankly, someone left the window open and the
money fan spinning on high.
The question then is, since the Ontario government
(loosely) insists that school boards and hospitals have a balanced budget, why
is the same assumption not made to municipalities.
Southwood Arena Is 17 Years Old
A city can debenture the costs of a big-time project and
gradually pay it back (hopefully before depreciation sets in). For example, the
Woodstock District Community Complex twin-pad arenas (and gymnastics centre and
community hall) opened way back in 1996 and the city still owes some dollars on
its construction. Putting on an appraiser’s hat for a moment, I would say the
effective age of that facility is only about 10 years as many visitors
still consider it ‘new’.
However, read the story below from the Stratford Beacon
Herald about the insane debt the Festival town has accumulated. Could you
imagine paying an additional $6,000 per household in city taxes in one year
just to eliminate the over-pouring of red ink?
Hats off to Woodstock city officials of yesterday and today
(recently Dave Creery replaced Paul Bryan-Pulham as CAO), for keeping Woodstock
attractive and balanced.
So, the next time you want to complain about your
municipal taxes, remember they also pay for education and a chunk of the
county infrastructure, and pays for the services we are using today and not
money spent several years ago.
What’s On Woodstock: http://www.city.woodstock.on.ca/images/stories/pdfs/wow_issues/2013/wow_march2013.pdf
()()()()()()()()
Stratford to keep score on whopping debt of $2,000-plus
per person
Wednesday, February 20,
2013
STRATFORD -- Taking a cue
from a citizen who recently commented on Stratford's budget, city treasurer
Andre Morin will be working on some kind of a scorecard that will keep the
public informed about the municipality's long-term debt.
As referred to in the
current budget, that debt will be $93.4 million at the end of this year. Morin
informed the finance subcommittee Tuesday the 2012 BMA study places Stratford
at the top of a list of 86 Ontario municipalities based on per capita level of
debt.
The BMA comparison is for
fiscal 2011 and the per capita amount reported for Stratford is $2,004.
"We're by far the
worst," Morin told the subcommittee, referring to the listing.
(Port Hope is about the
same as Stratford and Toronto is third on the list at $1,687.)
But Morin explained
infrastructure debt and other asset expenditures are important in making a
proper comparison.
"Our infrastructure
could be falling apart," he said.
Morin said he doesn't have
all of the information he would need to make a good comparison with other
municipalities. He'll be looking at what other municipalities do and try to
come up with a comparative way of illustrating the city's debt.
"Is keeping taxes low
the proper way to run a municipality," he asked, suggesting that if money
isn't put into capital reserves "something suffers."
He told the subcommittee
he would do some analysis and report back to council in May.
CAO Ron Shaw pointed out
the city is paying off about $5 million per year and has been able to manage
its debt.
Citing as an example
development in the city's west end, he noted that some of the debt is supported
by development charges coming in.
Adding his perspective,
Coun. Frank Mark said the city has taken advantage of "30% and 50%
dollars" -- a reference to federal and provincial grants -- and attractive
interest rates in financing infrastructure.
"I don't think we
want to lose site of that. In the long term it should be beneficial to the
community," he said.
The discussion was
prompted by recent comments on the city budget from Bob Savage who suggested
the city provide "a quarterly scorecard" showing the municipality's
debt, and indicating on-going reductions or increases.
Some Interesting
Facts
Another Reason To
Consider Living In Woodstock
Call Today:
Mark Schadenberg
Sales
Representative
Royal LePage Triland
Realty
(519) 537-1553
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Your Process Of Relocating
TO Woodstock, Could Begin Today !
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