The Timmins Taxpayers Association (TTA) made their budget consideration presentation at city hall on Wednesday evening without the fireworks of a year ago.
Logan McMeekin was joined by Alex Szczebonski to advocate on behalf of their organization, which aims to promote fiscal responsibility at City Hall.
“We do realize that we're not sitting here speaking for all the taxpayers in the city, but we are a group of like-minded individuals that come together to discuss issues, take input from others and bring them to council's attention,” said McMeekin.
Rather than financial specifics, the TTA wanted council to make sure they took the savings opportunities laid out in the Core Services Review seriously.
The city service audit was performed by KPMG's Sudbury office and cost $105,000 of city funds.
Two portions were prepared. A public portion and an in-camera portion, where matters such as personnel and staffing are discussed.
McMeekin thanked council for going through with the review and also praised Oscar Poloni, the lead consultant on the project for his candour during his appearances at council.
When the TTA presented last year, with specific targets for savings, it was met with palpable hostility and raised voices from councillors.
As Poloni has stated previously, Timmins has paid for similar operational reviews in the past and have not followed through with recommendations, thus resulting in more wasted tax dollars.
The majority of savings strategies in KPMG's review will be discussed 'in-camera' away from the eyes and ears of the media and public.
“Since we don't have the in-camera portion of this report, which really contains over 70 percent of the savings, we don't want to spend time talking about things that are potentially already being addressed in-camera” said McMeekin.
“If making some of these items public is not an option as decided by council, then we would like to respectfully ask if there is a plan to make part of this review public in the future, or to let taxpayers know which opportunities have been realized and have resulted in savings” she said
“We strongly feel as though the taxpaying public has a right to be informed of council's action or inaction on the publicly funded KPMG review,” she said.
Mayor Steve Black acknowledged that over the past year, a very large number of in-camera meetings have taken place, but says they were all justified by the Municipal Act of Ontario.
Black also said that it is important to note that the recommendations for savings within the Core Services Review are categorized as short-term, medium-term, and long-term, and thus not everything can be done in a short period of time. Many of the cost-cutting measures will have more impact on the 2017 budget.
Councillor Noella Rinaldo understands the optics of having so many in-camera meetings, but says they were all held with good reason.
“They just were not something you want out in the open at this particular point, because they do affect people and their lives and livelihoods. So this was the reason we were in-camera and I am very comfortable with why we went in camera for those specific reasons,” said Rinaldo.
Councillor Rick Dubeau took a different stance on the issue, saying he feels strongly that a lot more of the review should be made public. “I think that the majority of the stuff in the report is not confidential. It deals with opportunities, it deals with numbers, it doesn't deal with people” he said.
He added that although KPMG has a paragraph in the report stating what should be made public and what shouldn't, it holds very little water with him.
“KPMG has no authority over council. They cannot super-cede the Municipal Act. I think that paragraph has no validity whatsoever” said Dubeau.
He feels that there should be a 'public debate' regarding many of the cost-cutting ideas within the report.
He has asked that the matter be up for a vote at the next council meeting on Monday.
Councillor Pat Bamford said there were 'no big secrets' being discussed during the in-camera meetings.
Councillor Mike Doody, who last year went on an impassioned tirade against the TTA and their recommendations for cost cutting measures at the Golden Manor, once again defended the embattled retirement home.
He says that many of the recommendations in the KPMG report include reducing service levels.
Doody said he feels that complaints of high-costs to taxpayers surrounding operations at the Golden Manor need to be put into perspective, citing the elderly as the people who built the city of Timmins.
“There are sacrifices we have to make,” he said.
The TTA made no mention of the Golden Manor in its presentation.
Councillor Joe Campbell says that no members of council are of the 'slash-and-burn' mentality, and that its about delivering effective municipal services.
“There are ways to accomplish these goals. They can be done through attrition, they can be done through looking at some synergies, and that's really what we're concentrating on right now,” he said.
Councillor Walter Wawrzaszek told the TTA that he was disappointed in its presentation because it offered no numbers or specific ideas for savings.
“You didn't tell us where to cut to taxes, you didn't tell us anything really,” he said.
Wawrzaszek added that because the city has cut '22 to 24 positions' in the past few years, more work is being passed on to contractors, which then drives up costs to taxpayers.
“We're paying contractors more money to do it for us,” he said, using snow removal as an example.
McMeekin responded to Wawrzaszek by saying that the TTA wanted to see all of the in-camera portions of the Core Services Review, before getting into specifics.
He responded by suggesting that more direct feedback is vital to council.
“I don't expect people to come here and tell me everything is roses, I want people to come here and tell me about the thorns. Because I can improve service then, the other way, I can't,” said Wawrzaszek.
