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Town needs to reduce its spending as part of 2025 budget deliberations

Writer's picture: RTT ProductionRTT Production
Letter to the Editor

We can’t change the past. Going forward to a new budget for fiscal 2025, financial statements reveal an addiction to overspending. Currently, our growth in revenue of eight per cent on average is well above the rate of inflation.


Not including last year’s tax increase, we have been spending more than we can afford on the illusion that it will self-correct. Blaming past councils for not raising taxes enough is something some would say is irresponsible. Deficit financing would make our current problem progressively worse in time. We spend approximately four per cent more than we should. This is a structural problem that we need to address. Using only a band aid is not sufficient. It requires major surgery. 


In our current economic uncertainty, our projected growth in revenue can be less than estimated. Step one is reducing spending by four per cent.


Have a spending freeze to last year’s level, not to include the rate of inflation of three per cent. Impose a hiring freeze. 


We have been sold on the belief that consolidating three fire stations into two would give us substantial savings. It is fair to ask how much.


We have replaced old vehicles and equipment with new. How much are we saving in maintenance?


Without hiring any consultants, members of administration and management need to make recommendations on how to improve productivity. Harvesting experience employs talent and knowledge. Promoting mid and upper management improves morale and productivity. Taking politics out of our finances and returning to fiscal discipline is needed as is returning to the principle of what we need and not what we want.


Provincial guidelines demand that Ontario municipalities balance their budgets. It doesn’t say you need to raise taxes to do it. Maintaining a strong balance sheet and low taxes is essential to attracting investment. The future of our town’s prosperity and well-being depends on private sector investments. We need to do more to attract capital that creates jobs.


The very essence of a community is that it is built on jobs. I often repeat myself only because I care for the future of our town.


—Frank Cerasa

Amherstburg

Town needs to reduce its spending as part of 2025 budget deliberations

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