[homeles_ot-l] FW: Newer version of PBO Key Messages On City Budget 2010

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . . Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Cell 613-513-6647

Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205

 <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca

  _____  

From: Jenny Gullen [mailto:jgullen at sympatico.ca] 
Sent: January 19, 2010 3:47 PM
To: Lynne Browne
Subject: Newer version of PBO Key Messages

 

Hi Lynne:

 

Attached and pasted below is a newer version of the PBO Key Messages
document. The budget figures in this document have been refined. 

 

Could you please post this message as a resource to any community
organizations or individuals wishing to speak to Council on the draft
budget?

 

Thanks,

 

Jenny

 

 



*

*

*

 

 

THE CITY OF OTTAWA BUDGET 2010: NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO HAVE A VOICE

 

In 2007, City Council committed itself to a Triple Bottom Line approach to
our annual City budget, an approach that equally emphasizes "concern for
financial, social/cultural and environmental sustainability". Here are some
principles for Council to follow to help our city balance our budget along a
triple bottom line:

 

Make People Matter As Much As Roads and Sewers: Taxation helps to spread the
cost of city government more evenly throughout the population - the costs of
roads and sewers and clean water as well as the costs of those services that
help keep our residents healthy, active and productive. Increased user fees
for transit and for social and recreational programs place a greater burden
on families with kids, the elderly and others on fixed or low income. It
means that those with less money have less access to transportation and to
those social and recreational opportunities that keep people physically and
emotionally healthy. A balanced city needs to support both its people and
its pipes.

 

Ottawa Has A Unique Opportunity To Re-Invest in its Vital Community Services
and Housing;

In 1995, the Government of Ontario began downloading the costs of many
important social services onto its municipalities. Since then, municipal
governments have struggled to meet the growing need for these services from
a limited property tax base while also maintaining roads, sewers and other
infrastructure. The result is a social service infrastructure, including
social housing,  that has been badly eroded. These are the community service
organizations that partner with the City to help individuals and families in
times of need. Within these organizations, many programs have been cut or
operate on minimal resources and many social service staff work for salaries
well below those of other sectors.

 

The provincial uploading now underway means that the Government of Ontario
is finally taking back some of the financial responsibility for social
service spending that had been downloaded. By 2018, the City of Ottawa will
have about $100 million of this spending removed from the property tax base.
We now have an opportunity to rebuild a vital social infrastructure that has
been badly eroded for 15 years.

 

In 2010, the City of Ottawa will receive approximately $18 million of upload
money. PBO recommends that this $18 million should be reinvested in
community and social service programs.  In the 2010 draft budget, only $1.7
million of this money has been reinvested in community and social service
programs. Only 8% of the uploaded dollars have remained in community and
social services.  92% of this money has been transferred elsewhere.  While
most City departments have seen some increase in this draft budget, it is
important to note that the increase provided for social housing is well
below the average.

 

Don't Backpedal on Environmental Commitments: Ottawa has a long way to go to
become a sustainable city in which our "natural capital" - clean water,
clean air, biodiversity, and a stable climate - isn't being systematically
eroded. The 2010 budget must include full funding to implement the
environmentally beneficial plans that council has already adopted: the
Ottawa Cycling Plan, Pedestrian Plan, and Air Quality and Climate Change
Management Plan. Council must also reverse any proposed increase in transit
fares, lowering fares instead, and commit the funds necessary to stem the
overflow of untreated sewage and polluted stormwater run-off into our
waterways.    

 

 

January 19, 2010
www.betterottawa.ca <http://www.betterottawa.ca/> 

 

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