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The Lindsay Post is running a weekly series of questions, with answers by both the "Yes" and "No" sides of the issues.
Question #24:
Should the city take a stand on de-amalgamation and what should that stand be?
City administration getting involved in the referendum debate is a bit like a three-legged horse entered in the Kentucky Derby. Its track record is against it, a pre-race advertising campaign won't help, and it really isn't fair to racing fans.
Should the City of Kawartha Lakes take a stand on de-amalgamation? Absolutely not. The business of municipal government is to deliver municipal services in as cost effective manner as possible. Self-aggrandizement through an expensive advertising campaign has no place in local government for a couple of reasons: for one, it's wasteful. For another, the City using our own money to tell us how to vote is just plain wrong.
If amalgamation had succeeded, the City of Kawartha Lakes' record of achievement would speak for itself, and we wouldn't have an $18 million gap between what was promised and what taxpayers got.
The $6.6 million in aggregate savings predicted within three years would have been found instead of the $11.3 million in aggregate tax increases in the same period. Our reserves, the savings account set aside for the rainy day, would not have been cut in half in three years to try to balance the books and keep taxes down. And we would not be on track for a budgetary deficit again this year.
An expensive advertising campaign is no substitute for quality control. And a product with built-in design flaws, which is what amalgamation really is, with its illogical, ramming together of rural and urban areas, will never succeed with the consumer.
The Victoria County "Yes" Campaign has no objection to the City from time to time publishing a list of municipal government services or facilities if its purpose is to inform the taxpayer or visitors to our community. The line is crossed, however, when the City administration pleads for its privileged status through the preservation of our mega-city amalgamation.
Money donated to the "Yes" or the "No" sides has been given voluntarily. However, we don't have a choice about paying our taxes. Using our property tax dollars to prop up one side of the referendum campaign over the other is nothing more than a welfare program for the political elite. At this point, simple information becomes self-promotion, which becomes propaganda. Propaganda, which is the custom of using the wealth of the people to preserve a governance structure, is the hallmark of some of the more vile governments in history.
Many, (perhaps a majority; time will tell,) voters in the City of Kawartha Lakes will be voting "Yes" to de-amalgamate. They will weigh the evidence and they will pass judgment on amalgamation on November 10th. They should not have to have their own money used against them by the City.
A fair balance has been achieved in the de-amalgamation debate. On one side there is the Kawartha Lakes Supporters and the Pro City Network. The provincial government, whose financial analysis of the City of Kawartha Lakes does not include an analysis of the impact of amalgamation itself, seems poised to weigh in on the "No" side.
On the other side we have The Victoria County "Yes" Campaign making the case for de-amalgamation. For the City to jump in on the "No" side too is unseemly and reflects desperation.
City Council can legally order City administration to get involved in the referendum debate. However, legality and morality aren't necessarily the same thing. And all the money in the world won't make the three-legged horse run faster.