Larry O’Brien

The city of Ottawa is not alone in facing budget challenges. The Province of Ontario is looking at a $25 billion deficit, and every public institution in this country is being stretched to its financial limit. That’s why I am asking the Province to freeze wages for all public sector employees. For the City of Ottawa, a freeze on staff wages would save about $25 million in 2010. Today I sent a letter to our Premier, Dalton McGuinty, asking him to pass legislation to freeze all Ontario Public sector salaries for two years:

27th November 2009

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty,

MPP, Ottawa South

Premier, Province of Ontario

Room 281

Main Legislative Building

Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A1

Dear Premier,

As Mayor of the City of Ottawa, I am writing to you on an issue that affects every public sector employer in the Province of Ontario.

This week, Ottawa City Council prepared a 2010 budget that included over $60 million in spending deferrals and cuts in an effort to limit the property tax increase to 3.9%.

The single largest line item in our 2010 budget was public sector wage increases. I acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our employees but realize that wage settlements beyond those in the private sector places a large burden on all of our taxpayers, including those that can least afford increases-such as seniors and the poor.

There have been reports that you may be considering the re-introduction of unpaid days off to deal with the estimated $24.7 billion provincial deficit. I would like to express my concerns with this approach, as so many of our public sector employees deliver vital front line services that cannot be accommodated by additional absenteeism.

The provincial legislature has, within its authority, to introduce special legislation that would freeze public sector salaries for a recommended two years. This would allow municipalities, hospitals, schools and your own government to continue the recovery from the recession, while maintaining the front-line services our residents depend upon. This is not something that municipalities can do themselves. Ottawa is unique in that so many of our collective agreements include mandatory arbitration, but all municipalities are burdened with the knowledge that arbitrators are not required to look at the taxpayers ability to pay.  In addition, many of our collective agreements were signed prior to knowing the full extent of the global downturn.

The current financial difficulties are shared by many and we wish to work together to return the province and all Ontario municipalities to financial sustainability, I am asking for your consideration of this request as I believe it is in the best interests of all Ontarians.

Sincerely,

Larry O’Brien

Cc:  Hon. Dwight Duncan

       Minister of Finance

The people of Ottawa elected me in 2006 to put a lid on runaway spending increases at City Hall.  And after three years as Mayor I am more convinced than ever that the City does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.  My commitment to reducing spending on behalf of the citizens of Ottawa has not wavered. Last week, Committee chairs released their budget estimates, and I am disappointed with the results. The current estimates, left unchecked, will collectively cost the average homeowner $293 more in annual property taxes and levies; an 8% increase over 2009. And this does not include an expected 9% rise in water and sewer rates.

The status of Frank Clair Stadium is clear; the south side stands are condemned and the north side stands have problems too. Oh and yes, the Civic Centre leaks as well.

The facility serves as home to the successful Ottawa 67’s (who have a lease until 2012) and is the only trade show space in Ottawa. Also, the Farmer’s Market, and to a lesser extent the Ottawa Exhibition, contribute to the 1.5 million people who visit Lansdowne Park every year.

Even though Lansdowne is broken, it is still serving important duties for the citizens of Ottawa. It is also a big part of our City’s heritage.

Today we have a broken yet commercially useful Lansdowne Park and a consensus that the Park needs rejuvenation. Just to keep it functioning as it is now will cost taxpayers approximately $25 million over the next 10 years. Unfortunately this is what happens when you ignore something for the last 20 years.

Now it’s time to fix it.

Some unsolicited solutions to the Lansdowne problem have come from the private sector and have been received and reviewed by the City. One of these proposals (Lansdowne Live) addresses fixing up Frank Clair Stadium and bringing the CFL back to Ottawa and the other recommends building a City owned stadium in Kanata as a home to a professional soccer team.

Both of these proposals would cost taxpayers in excess of $100 million. In addition, both of these proposals would ultimately fix Lansdowne Park. Moreover, both projects would result in economic activity during this downturn and fix an eyesore in the middle of our City. Over the next three weeks, City Council will make some important choices for the future of Lansdowne Park. There will not be a right or wrong answer, but there will many options. The worst outcome is to do nothing – that in my opinion is not an option.

To a certain extent, these unsolicited proposals are competing with each other. And when choosing between competing options in business, I have often measured them against questions relating to values. The four values and questions that have helped me make these types of choices are 1) Do we have all the facts? 2) Is this the best choice for the long term? 3) Will the solution chosen provide the most value added? and 4) Is it the most economically prudent choice?

These are the questions I will be asking over the next three weeks. Please keep us informed as to your views on this subject.

Today City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick presented to Council the third phase of restructuring the operations at the City of Ottawa.

The results of this latest round of restructuring streamlines our management structure and citizens will now have a single point of contact to access important City services. The City Manager’s objectives are to clarify accountability for client’s service outcomes, establish a single access point for related services and improve the City’s ability to be more responsive to Council and the community.

I have heard from many people about the difficulties they have experienced dealing with various departments at City Hall. What seems to be a simple request requires multiple phone calls or transfers. We are now implementing a single point of client contact. 

The City staff contact will be responsible for navigating the workings inside City Hall and these changes will make it easier for you to work with your municipal government and that’s just common sense.

After all, it is your money and you want City Hall to run effectively. I believe that these changes will not only save money, but they will improve service to our customers – not an easy task but one that is being accomplished and I congratulate management for a job well done.

These changes are also the end of a process we started last October and now staff can focus on working within the new structure. We have a lot of work to do and we are now positioned to do that work in the most effective way possible.

It is always hard to make changes that result in job loss, but it is our responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the taxpayer. Council’s direction was to achieve $100 million in savings, while improving customer service. This latest phase means that 340 reporting relationships at City Hall have been redefined and management staff levels have been reduced by 45 positions, for an administrative cost savings of 7% and total savings of $3.7 million annually. 

Please let me know what you think.