Quote:
Originally Posted by fenwick16
I believe Councillor Fisher's remarks were in a lighthearted manner. I have to agree, we tend to think that Councillors should know everything and be blamed for everything, which isn't really the case.
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Sadly, I don't think the Fisher comments are in any way lighthearted. The reason HRM council is a target for criticism and gets "blamed for everything" is not that they are expected to be experts in everything. It is that they are expected to set a responsible direction for the city, yet are signing us up for every bad idea and harebrained scheme staff or interest groups put in front of them, after lots of grandstanding and posturing that amounts to exactly zero.
Once again this year the big bad budget bugbear was beaten back by the miraculous rise in property assessments. So they can continue to spend in the most profligate ways, willy-nilly like drunken sailors, without any sort of vision or plan. Random describes them well. Want to go 80% over budget on an underpass project with no consequences? No problem! Want to let staff to sell you on the harebrained idea of clear garbage bags? No problem! Want to OK a bus terminal for $12 million? No problem! We don't need to cut spending! We can just tap into the overburdened, underserviced taxpayer one more time!
Nobody expects you to be experts on everything. But they expect leadership, they expect fiscal responsibility and respect for the taxpayer, and they expect some sense of direction. Taxpayers are getting none of that. All they are getting is hosed.
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