Our taxes are too high and this is why!
The Police Board should only negotiate a one year contract and they should not be making agreements that extend beyond their mandate.
I urge Council at its next regular meeting to discuss the upcoming Police Contract and make sure that it is not going to extend beyond one year.
Taxes in this City are way too high compared to other places. It’s time we took a stand and make it clear that enough is enough. It has to start somewhere and the Police Budget has gone completely out of control.
Best regards,
Mark A. MacDonald
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Of course taxes in Cornwall are way too high and I remember when I used to read the toilet paper of record – SF and a man who is a senior from Milton Ontario bought a house in Cornwall thinking that he would save and he was in for a shock to see his tax bills. The taxes are a great deal higher and the cops in Cornwall aka Fossoli earn way too much money. I keep on telling you folks that Cornwall will soon be Detroit Michigan. In Detroit they are literally bankrupt and cops are making only (hold on to your seats and don’t swallow your dentures) $14. and something an hour (yes fourteen dollars and something an hour) and they have to pay for their own uniforms and shoes. Just hold on to your seats folks because the economy is going to take a big hit in 2014 and 2015 and God knows when. You all haven’t seen anything yet what is coming. There will be more people hungry very soon if this keeps up. Bare Ass doesn’t give a hoot about any of you and it is about time that people go and throw him and his gang out the door.
This contract took a year to come to a tentative deal. You think they should re-negotiate every year? That’s nuts! How much money will be wasted in litigation?
Police and Fire if not happy with a settlement, go to arbitration which usually costs more. It is overly simplistic to just blame the City. An arbitration fix at the province level has been wanted for years and now with economic times filtering down to municipal levels, well you know the rest. http://www.netnewsledger.com/2011/08/05/big-12-police-services-boards-call-for-arbitration-fix/
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2013/08/29/arbitrators-ruining-the-country
http://www.policearbitration.on.ca/content/english/default.html
http://www.pas.gov.on.ca/scripts/en/BoardDetails.asp?boardID=1115
Eric arbitration is based on job rates. For example if the City switched to the OPP it would get to pick which services and limits it would put in place.
If we are to live within a budget we have to have some control on costs. While you’re correct in stating that Arbitration could drive up salaries the City could chose to limit certain services. There are cuts that could be made if salaries bloated the budget.
The AMO gives lip service to saving money, however the province through uploading, downloading or contributing financially, control many items. Can any City do a better job, absolutely. And that is where determination and work comes in, most politicians just want the photo ops and people don’t want any reductions in programs AND don’t want to pay at the same time.
http://www.amo.on.ca/
It is about as long as a book, but this asks as many questions as answers. http://prudentpress.com/politics/an-amalgamated-megacity-how-ontario-became-a-have-not-province-pt-3/
I said it before many times that eventually Cornwall will and may go bankrupt. We are no different than the US and I have an article here for everyone to read on what is going on and this is just the tip of the iceberg that is let out in the news. Things are a great deal worse off than what we are being told. I want to put this for everyone to read thoroughly and if you think that it can’t happen to you then you have blinders on:
Another US city mulls bankruptcy due to soaring wages and pensions
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/another-u-city-mulls
When you read the entire article it talks about the police salaries and pensions. I think that this is something for everyone to read and understand what they are reading. The economy is very bad and getting worse and people do not know how to live and only want to keep up an artificial lifestyle of keeping up with the Jones’ well it won’t be for long before it comes back with a mighty big vengeance.
Jules,
A couple of eye-openers for you and your continued spewing of mistaken facts and figures.
1) Your reference to Detroit Police being paid $14 per hour. You are correct, new recruits are paid $14 per hour for the first 6 months while attending police college. After graduation from police college the starting pay is between $23 and $29 per hour depending on education. Even after taking a 10% pay cut the Detroit police department salary grid is above the National Average.
2) Your reference to Cornwall going bankrupt. Do some research on any number of cities and compare the debt loads each city carries. Cornwall is on very solid ground financially. We pay high taxes – I do not dispute that – but we also have little to no debt. This came about many years ago with the sale of Cornwall Electric which 1) paid off all of our current debts at the time and 2) set up a progress fund for future investment.
Selling Cornwall electric was a mistake by previous council. Cornwall electric made money for this city. Profits are way up in the electricity market.
Bill the vast majority of people who live(d) in Detroit are leaving. Detroit was a city of vast prosperity with a population of over 2 million people and now it is down to 700,000 people maybe less since it has been a while since I last saw it. Teachers and cops in the US make some of the least money. Detroit looks almost like a war zone in some places and Obama wants to bullzone 1/3 of the city.
About Cornwall it is like what our former PM’s did for Canada by making surplus’ until Harper came in and spent like a drunken sailor. Now Canada has deficits and will take time to replace what they spent. If something arises in the meantime like a major war or whatever then Canada would be in big trouble. Even with the economy that is faultering just now and less and less taxpayers is going to put a big hit in the economy. The same holds true for Cornwall it is going to go through the reserves as long as someone like Bare Ass is in charge and doesn’t know how to hold on to the purse strings and spends foolishly. The people who will be living in Cornwall will be mostly the elderly and the disabled and there will be very little tax base out of these people. The kitty will go bare. I agree with Rod where Cornwall Electric should not have been sold and electricity is going to soar in price very soon. I said the same thing as Mayor Ford for some years now not just on CFN but I used to speak to some American ladies and we all agreed that garbage should be incinerated to make electricity that can provide for homes and businesses instead of polluting the environment with more dumps that are useless. This is done since a long time in Seattle Washington.
Jules is right that Cornwall will go bankrupt. But it can be stopped if the excessive police state presence behind the east end Food Basics and Fahrenheit 451 Hockey Brigade stay. Do these people do anything besides stalk notorious re-offenders of minor crimes for Police Blotter fame and bale pot in drunken Long Sault every fall, and answer false alarms at subsidized developments or light the Cotton Mills on fire? Not unless they respond to another Freshco accident. BTW, is it true that the new No Frills and Freshco saved the economy of Cornwall…..No. Tell Kilger and the clowns that.
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And we have the nicest curbs and sewers in Canada thanks to the local PAC donations. Fat fireman. Little Hitler Youth cops. We need a Rob Ford. Jules couldn’t be more wrong about Harper though. Best economy ever!