One of the craziest things you do when on council is go through a District of Squamish budget process. Historically this process has been less than kind to its participants but I am very pleased to say the process continues to improve.
It's actually an exciting time because it's when everyone's priorities get assigned tax dollars. They say you never forget your first and apparently that goes for budgets as well. I remember politicians going through each and every line saying "we have to cut taxes" and they kept lowering the numbers given by staff.
I thought, "They must have good reason for these numbers." But after a while I started having doubts. Then when it came to areas I knew very well, it became obvious that people can pull lower numbers out of the air without having the slightest clue as to what the cut really means. Now I'm all for cutting taxes, but not if it's a bad financial decision.
A perfect example is when Squamish had to replace the arena roof for $100,000. Politicians cried, "think of the taxpayer!" and they gutted the budget to do minimum repairs. We finally pushed it to the point of no return and it ended up costing us closer to $1 million.
A more recent example is your utility bill hike. That's a kicker, eh? We just received an infrastructure report and due to decades of short-sighted decisions, our infrastructure is crumbling much as it is in every other community in Canada. Unlike them, however, we are one of the few communities that have actually pulled our head out of the "ignore it and it will go away" sand.
Water, sewer, roads, dikes and bridges: We are actually looking at that stuff now. Sure, it's embarrassing to admit it took so long, but it's fantastic to be able to honestly stare the expensive truth in the face. Yes it stings, but not nearly as much as running around blind yelling "no tax increase!" With this infrastructure report we can be proactive fixing things rather than flailing around whatever happens to be breaking today. Plus, having this document leaves us in a good position to go for grants with the Province and the Feds, which is fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic - as a long-time lover of downtown, might I say "Woo-hoo Downtown BIA!" They jumped through a historic number of hoops to become the first BIA in the province to survive the applicant-led petition process. Combine this with the district's new downtown streetscapes plan (a comprehensive guide to what downtown should look like) and I, for one, am optimistic the heart of downtown will keep on beating.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading and if you haven't already, please sign up for my monthly email newsletter (at http://www.bryanraiser.com). Not only do you get a glimpse into this nutty job, but it also reminds you that I'm here to listen. And that point is huge since this job is all about communication.
