GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader Michael Douglas, in regards to three articles recently published in about next year's police operating budget which will be subject to city council approval early in the new year:
I have a community interest joke to share with Guelph Today readers. It may be deemed controversial and even inappropriate to some. However, to borrow the mayor’s approach, I “respectfully request” the editor of GT publish my joke despite the advance acknowledgement that the request may be “almost impossible to achieve” and “out of my control.”
A mayor, city councillor and their appointed plus-one enter an establishment (a boardroom) and meet up with two others. The meeting comes to order and after some small talk the mayor motions for something that meets with the unanimous approval of everyone there. Allow me to digress and share with you where I first heard the real joke I am about to share.
On November 20, a GuelphToday article well-penned by journalist Mark Pare covered mayor Guthrie’s request to the Guelph Police Services Board (a board that the mayor sits on) that they cut $1.8M from next year’s police budget and limit the year over year increase to a maximum of four per cent. The mayor prophetically and inexplicably stated that his request was a “respectful request” that will be “almost impossible to achieve” and moreover “out of his control.”
On December 11, a follow-up article, again penned by Pare covered a request by the GPS Board (which includes mayor Guthrie, councillor Ault and council appointee Ajay Sharma) requesting a 7.9 per cent increase in next year’s operating budget. This request was made despite mayor Guthrie’s earlier request for a four per cent cap.
On December 12, the next day, another follow-up article was published by Pare covering the Guelph Police Service Board advising the city that they were amending the previous operating budget request by adding an additional $250,000 associated with the six new officers requested in the earlier budget version.
My sincere apologies for keeping you waiting on the punch-line to my joke. It is coming soon.
At a recent GPS Board meeting, our mayor, who sits on the police board, despite his earlier request for a $1.8M police budget reduction and a four per cent cap on next year’s net operating police budget, is reportedly the one who mystifyingly put forward the Motion to include the additional $250,000 included in the amended GPS budget proposal. The motion was, not surprisingly, approved unanimously by the GPS Board.
The mayor's weak, submissive stance on defending his budgeting objectives at the GPS Board meeting is baffling. How does the mayor square his actions with the taxpayers of Guelph? That GPSB budget proposal, if not amended further, will go before council for final approval in January, a council make-up that will include both mayor Guthrie and city councillor Phil Allt, two members of the five-member Guelph Police Services Board. Where are the oversight guardrails necessary to protect the interests of the public that council is mandated to serve?
Sorry, upon reflection I see that it is hard to see the humour in the joke I initially set out to share with the readers. Or perhaps you have already surmised the joke is on the taxpayers.
It’s also hard to comprehend why the mayor of our fine city, or any city for that matter, sits and votes on a police board responsible for developing operating and capital budgets for our police services. A budget which then must be submitted to council for final approval, the same council the mayor sits on, leads and allegedly possesses “strong mayor” powers over.
It appears the aforementioned process is rife with conflicting interests and this has led to the chaos evident in arriving at a workable policing budget that will achieve the board’s provincially mandated mission. That mission, as written, is to develop an operating and capital budget that will provide the community with adequate and effective police services.
We have a GPS Board advocating for an increase in operating costs in the vicinity of nine per cent and a city council looking for a four per cent cap on year over year policing costs. lt would appear that as usual, the taxpayers of Guelph will become the victims of “Gelotaphobia” the helpless feeling of being taken advantage of and laughed at. Look it up. It’s a thing. No Joke.
In closing, a promise is a promise: Three Irish pals walk out of a bar in Belfast on St. Patrick’s Day lucid, stable and sober.
Cheers.
Michael Douglas,
Guelph, Ont.
