By Stephen Vance, Editor
At the Meaford Independent, we believe in holding governments accountable, we believe in giving the community a voice, but what we believe in first and foremost is ensuring the truth is communicated to Meaford residents. Yes, we are hard on Meaford’s council when warranted, and we go to bat for Meaford residents on issues that we feel are harmful to the community, or are just plain silly, but along with the right to offer those opinions, we are also obligated to our readers, and to municipal leaders to ensure that at the core of everything is truth.
Because of our ongoing quest for truth, on occasion we become quite concerned when inaccurate information, or complete fabrications are being disseminated to Meaford residents, so we would like to take a moment to correct a recent influx of inaccurate information to our in-box from our readers.
For example, we received an email over the weekend from a reader which was copied to all members of Meaford’s council, and we presume to many members of our community as well, that suggested that the two percent pay increase included in the 2014 draft budget was a result of threats from union members.
“I have learned from a council member that you are planning in the budget a two percent increase in staff size, and that the UNION is forcing this. Could you please explain to me how our tax dollars are under a pointed gun aimed by the union?” wrote the resident.
For starters, there is not a single municipal department in Meaford whose staff are members of a union. Many municipal workers in other municipalities are represented by unions, but not in Meaford.
The statement also suggested that there is a two percent increase in staff size in the 2014 draft budget.
“Please defy the union and do what is right! You have increased your staff size each and every year (by 2%, then 2.8%, then 3% and then again 2% more ),” wrote one reader.
The reality is that the only staff expansion requested in the draft budget is for $4,500 to support expanded horticultural part-time, seasonal staff.
The size of Meaford’s full-time staff has not really increased in the last four years. True, in 2001 new newly amalgamated Municipality of Meaford had 55 full time staff members. That number dropped for four consecutive years, and in 2005, Meaford employed 43 full time staff members. That number jumped to 50 in 2006, dropped again the following year to 45, and then increased over the next three years to 60 in 2010.
The massive hiring spree over the last few years that many have complained to us about in email messages and letters to the editor, is in reality not a spree at all. In 2010 Meaford employed 60 full-time staff members, and currently the municipality employs 61staff members. The much talked about hiring spree has resulted in one additional employee in the last three years, and Meaford today has just six more staff members than they had 12 years ago in 2001.
Yes the draft budget for 2014 includes a two percent base pay increase for Meaford employees. This increase accounts for $97,000 of the $12.4 million budget – less than one percent. And let’s not forget that in recent years Meaford’s administration has played a bit of “catch-up” with staff salaries due to a few years of having no increases.
Another rumour that simply won’t seem to go away is that Meaford’s CAO earns a whopping $300,000 per year. We’ve heard this as recently as this week, and again, the suggestion is not based on fact, but was most likely a misinterpretation of the 2013 budget line for the CAO’s department. As has been written in these pages before, a budget line number for a department does not mean that the head of that department is taking all that money home. Included in the CAO’s budget were things like municipal advertising, support staff, and so on.
Other rumours that we’ve seen and heard in recent weeks include Meaford’s council having a “secret fund” that is used for things that councillors don’t want residents to know about – untrue.
That rumours crop up from time to time is understandable. Usually these kinds of rumours don’t start out of malice, or a desire to mislead, but rather from a lack of understanding by residents, or a lack of clarity on the part of the municipality.
There is also a significant level of mistrust of Meaford’s council, and that skepticism has certainly been earned based on the at times seemingly constant stream of council gaffs, but there are plenty of valid complaints that can be made about Meaford’s council, or any other municipal council for that matter without resorting to fabrications and misinformation.
Rather than taking the word on the street as gospel, we would encourage everyone with an interest or concerns about municipal operations and spending to attend the upcoming public input sessions for the 2014 budget, to get the facts from the source, and ask members of council some hard questions.
Just leave the rumours at the door.
