Back in late summer when Windsor was in the throws of our undoubted, unnecessary 101 day civic strike, Mayor Eddie Francis methodically stumped that he was going to reimburse Windsorites for their time, trouble and municipal services not rendered.
At the time, the Mayor's newsbit was embraced with the dullest of enthusiasm. Windsorites interviewed by the Windsor Star used descriptives such as "political gambit", "gimmick", and "unimpressive". Councillor Halberstadt came out and said: "Yeah, I think it was a political grandstand". But Mayor Francis and his council "made it so" despite criticism that the cost to implement the initiative was prohibitive and wasteful. Commenters to the Windsor Star and other news sources such as blogs expressed that the money would better serve if it was applied against our tax base or even given up to the local arts. No such constructive advice was taken into consideration. The "best mayor in Ontario" along with "Windsor's pro business council" and "fast and responsive administrators" were hell bent on dumping a chicken into every pot.
And so we come to today. Two weeks before the start of Windsor's election season, the cheques are starting to arrive. Seventy two dollars each to every property owning Windsorite. 77,000 of us in total. All of which extends out to the questionable $5.6 million in savings that our city fathers reported as booty from the strike.
The task to issue the cheques was massive and the logistics for issuing them were reputed to be fraught with complication. The Windsor Star reported that the Scotia Bank was hired to do the mailing portion of the project at a cost of $100,000. Word is starting to trickle down that the total project cost is much higher. $500,000.00 for the entire project.
One might ask where all of that money is coming from? You have to know that every municipal department that had a hand in the project will be padding next years budget to make up for the loss. So dear Windsorites...When you sign over your municipal cheque for seventy two dollars to your bank, Applebee's or wherever you know why that chicken in your pot seems a bit odd. If only because it is a $500,000.00 turkey.
5 comments:
I advocate putting the cheque in a drawer somewhere or, better yet, frame it and tack it to your wall as a reminder come next November of all the mayor's and council's follies and childish, spite-filled hand wringing.
This cheque return boondoggle is symbolic of the mayor's head-strong blunders that end up costing tax payers while he gets to pretend he's an entreprenure.
M.O.M., are you American? When you blog about dollars coming to "every property owning Windsorite", why do you spell cheque in the American form of "check"?
Because I take concepts like NAFTA and the North American Union very seriously. Thanks for chequing over my work. Sadly, I need the help. Tis fixed Mr. A.
I ADVOCATE DIRECTING THESE CHEQUES OT THE LIKES OF AL NELMAN AND GROUPO TO ASSIST IN CAMAPAIGNS FOR PEOPLE WHO WILL DOD WELL BY THE CITY IN THE UPCOMING MUNICIAPL ELECTION FOR A REAL RETURN ON THE MONEY
To this day the City's Finance Dept. is going through hell with this nonsense. Too many problems and complaints. Department is behind and manpower is limited. Too many unforseen complications.
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