Vote Dick Carpani for Mayor
  Sarnia Ontario Canada

New leadership needed on city council

Sir: Re "Action needed to head off deficit" (The Observer, Aug. 25, 2006)

Here Sarnia goes again! The above article warns the citizens that the city is facing an $880,000 deficit by January. Is this just another way to soften a tax increase announcement for 2007?

Councillors were surprised at the $1.2 million inherited when Ann Tuplin took over as city manager. Excuse me, but what are these elected people doing? Obviously they aren't paying much attention to what is going on in Sarnia. Let's get some of our priorities in the right place, folks! This smells of irresponsible management.

Whose fault is it that the city is facing a deficit of $320,000 for the operating budget? Whose fault is it for the $550,000 shortage for the sewer budget?

One of the claims is the street sweeping budget will be overspent by $35,000. I have yet to see a street sweeper on my street.

How does the city spend an extra $46,000 for waste collection? Doesn't the city contract this business out? If the collector's bid is too low, that's his problem.

One expenditure that really irks me is the added cost that the city is being "saddled with," by $50,000, to cover the additional cost of maintaining Centennial Park. Now is the time to dig into the casino slush fund and pay for these extras, Mike. Just look at what Point Edward is and has been doing with its share. The citizens there should be proud of what their town council has done for the improvements along the river and all over their small town. Talk about tourism attraction.

The mayor says that the revenue from the casino is put into a special fund and will be used to increase tourism. Right! What about spending it now? There doesn't seem to be too much going on. Is the city being promoted in Iraq?

It's high time that these funds are used to help beautify Sarnia even more. Most of our streets are in deplorable shape. This doesn't encourage tourism. Bad streets turn people off!

We have an election coming up and it's probably time to whitewash the council chambers. We need people and leadership who will actually run this city as a thriving business and not be surprised when someone says, "Oh, by the way, we're $1.2 million in the hole. We need higher property taxes."

I have lived in Sarnia for seven-and-a-half years, retiring here because I liked what I first saw when I travelled here as a salesman for a major rubber company. I still love living here and love Sarnia.

So Mike and his council, get with it and clean up your act, or look for work elsewhere. Some of these people are dinosaurs.

Roger Alary Sarnia

Thursday, August 31, 2006 – The Observer Letter-to-the-editor