Big Pay Rise

Well today is an important Council meeting. Senior Staff and Council members stand to gain somewhere in the line of $350,000 in wages and other benefits. But there are other more important issues to be concerned about….

New and Amended By-Laws and Penalties are on the way!

First, the other day we discussed the Councils desire to line their pockets with some pretty large wage increases.

If you had a chance to review the report they hope to rely on today during their Council meeting you would see they want to pay their two CAO’s and themselves some pretty hefty increases. In order to do so, they rely on comparing themselves to several other communities. Today let’s look at those communities they choose to compare themselves to.

Innisfil- Pop. 36,500, One CAO

King- Pop. 28,000, One CAO

New Tech.- Pop 42,000, One CAO

Bradford W.G.- Pop. 42,000, One CAO

Collingwood- Pop. 26,800, One CAO

Orangeville- Pop. 31,000, One CAO

Orillia- Pop. 35,000, One CAO

Barrie- POPULATION 164,000, YES… ONE (1) CAO!

So you decide… are these fair communities to base Wasaga Beach management wages on?

No sense beating a dead horse on the wages issue. They will approve the increases or modify some for show, but more importantly, they are stepping up the ability to tax those living in or visiting Wasaga Beach with all kinds of punitive measures and even a new tax. Yep, an accommodation tax for short term accommodation.

BRILLIANT! Claim tourism is our most important industry and tax those visiting from outside of Wasaga Beach extra. Oh yeh, that should improve those tourism numbers.

Tidy your property, fix that roof leak, cut your grass, don’t park there, keep the noise down or else. Mayor Smith recently talked tough, telling everyone increased enforcement was on the way and at today’s meeting, they are arming themselves with the tools to “clean up Wasaga Beach”.