Questionable decisions at city hall

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/03/2021 (813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not everything that happens at city hall can be reported in the various media outlets. I want to share the real stories behind decisions made over the last month that impact your city.

People criticize me on social media and try to paint me as always disagreeing, and that’s fine. However, I am committed to being open, and I will continue to inform you of issues I believe you need to know.

Let’s look at some decisions in the last month made at city hall that didn’t make headlines:

• City council approved a 10 per cent raise for a contract position. Some councillors argued that it was necessary because this position doesn’t receive regular pay increases. However, the documentation provided to each of us for decision making indicated the position received a five per cent increase in 2020.

Therefore, this contract position’s total increase is 15 per cent over two years, making the salary over $45,000. It’s not confirmed to be a full-time position. The details are available at the City of Winnipeg website on the February council agenda.

• The sale of the old St. Boniface city hall made the news, but the sale details did not.

The City of Winnipeg appraised the site at $2.1 million and sold the historical site for $10,000. That is not a typo. If you look into the sale further, you’ll notice the city is paying for all necessary paperwork, permits, subdivision, and land titles to the tune of $180,000.

When you review all the sale details, the city is selling the historical site at a loss of approximately $170,000.

Is that how you want your city to spend your tax dollars?

• Finally, we learned that the mayor’s expense account is $1.8 million. This is the second-highest mayor’s expense account in Canada. A few hundred thousand below Toronto and higher than Montreal or Vancouver.

I don’t blame the mayor. Council members could change this, if there was the desire. 

A councillor who is not a member of the executive policy committee wanted to make changes to that expense account and moved to ensure the mayor’s expenses had transparent accountability. The mayor’s office is not required to provide full details on expenditures.

That motion lost, as it was voted down by the councillors who make up the executive policy committee, the inner circle.

These are unacceptable decisions with your tax dollars made at city hall. We can do better.