By Shafee Bacchus, former commissioner of corporate services for Ontario’s Niagara Region
Now that the municipal elections are over I am compelled to reflect on the promises made and the difficulties faced by those who are new in power to effect change.
Shafee Bacchus
Firstly, I am convinced, after many years spent in municipal administration, that one of the greatest obstacles to change is the longevity of those who are returned to power each successive term. These individuals, with few exceptions, feel secure in their positions and are under the illusion that their continued election somehow reflects the good decision they make on council over the years.
Let’s be clear. Municipal elections are based on name recognition in the majority of cases with less than 30% of eligible voters participating. It is not based on decision making of individual councillors. If that was the case, I would bet more than half of those long-standing councillors would be out after the first term.
In my opinion, longevity in politics does not guarantee change but reinforces the status quo, despite taxpayer’s protestations regarding their inability to support rising taxes in the face of higher unemployment and falling incomes. So long as we continue to re-elect those individuals change will always be difficult to realize.
One of the issues raised during the election is the annual increase in rates for sewer and water services. This despite the homeowners’ continued efforts to conserve. The simple fact is that pricing for sewer and water services is based on a mathematical calculation using costs to operate and maintain the systems, divided by the volume used or demanded. Therefore, the less you use (conservation) the higher the price.
The only way to reduce the price under the present system is to lower the operating cost and to some extent the capital cost, most of which will remain the same if the system is to be maintained to acceptable standards.
In Niagara, we continue to support a two-tier system for sewer and water services. This is unlike other regions in the province, where a one-tier system has been in place since the mid sixties. As such, the residents in Niagara are forced to support two sets of operating costs ( one at the local level and one at the Regional level ) This is not only inefficient but also results in differing sewer and water rates in each of our municipalities, despite the fact that the Region’s cost to each municipality is uniform. To correct for this inefficiency we need to demand a change both legislatively and administratively.
This brings me back to “change “that would require an agreement at both levels of municipal government. How likely is this? Unfortunately, those who have been in power for so long recognize that change will upset the status quo and perhaps jeopardize their chances at the next election or will alienate them from their fellow councillors when, sometime in the future, they may require the support of those councillors for their favourite issues.
There are many other ways of reducing the cost of municipal government in Niagara. One that readily comes to mind is to reduce the number of municipalities. But again this would be upsetting the status quo and it would not likely happen. Here again the Province must step in and until this happens we will have to live with this inefficient system of governance.
Another factor that limits change is the longevity of those who administer government at the senior level. Here we find individuals who are so secure in their positions that they lose site of the taxpayer’s interests in favour of their own interests and status. Because of their power to administer, they continue to confuse the facts when those facts threaten their survival. Most politicians are fearful of these individuals because they lack the knowledge to question them or because they cannot offer a better alternative to what is being proposed by those administrators.
So where do we go from here?
Forget trying to expect long-serving councillors to change the status quo despite their recent rhetoric. As taxpayers, we should on the other hand keep the pressure on the new councillors to keep their promises and maybe, just maybe, we might see some change.
Shafee Bacchus is a former commissioner of corporate services for Niagara, Ontario’s regional government and a resident of Niagara.
(Visit Niagara At Large at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater binational Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
Fortunately, the internet offers the chance for more transparency and democratization of these issues. This article, this site, and councillor Day’s site are good examples.
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This is an insightful article, from one who knows municipal works from the inside out.
In my personal opinion, staff at both the city and regional municipal levels, often drive the agenda, rather than elected council. Has anyone questioned, for example, how many middle managers there are at the Regional Municipality of Niagara, or why a city needs to hire two full time communication individuals, if local government is supposed to be so transparent. There is a lot of administrators feathering their nests, I fear. Costs us all.
G. B.
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Niagara voters are a clueless lot, nobody seems to know what happens at Region but they still vote in the bums, because their names rings a bell in their thick skulls, like a bunch of lemmings, it is follow the leader blindly over the cliff, newspapers are use- less providers of information, nobody covers Region in depth, if they did the unwashed would revolt and demand action, thank the blogesphere for some information otherwise it would be a total blackout.
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I’ve lived in a number of Regional municipalities in Ontario, Peel, Halton, Waterloo and Haldimand-Norfolk as it divorced to become Norfolk and Haldimand. Niagara is by far the most dysfunctional of the lot. Mr. Bacchus nails some of the key issues as a retired insider but it goes beyond his very good illustrations. I have never witnessed a more disengaged public, long on complaining short on action. Apart from this publication and Doug Draper’s poignant articles at his other job, we see very little in the way of journalistic critique in Niagara. Small dedicated groups in the south have scored some points on the state of our hospitals, yet little changes. How much does it have to hurt, how repetitious do the bad decisions have to be before the people shake off their collective lethargy and demand the type of changes necessary to make this region effective, efficient and most of all competitive. Hope springs eternal.
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I thank the author for his thoughtful comments. I do support one Niagara, although this is not politically popular. I would point out that there are some aspects of the problem of water and sewers which he has not dealt with. One is the wrongheaded determination to convert grass swales to curb and gutters. Grass swales reduce the water going into sewage treatment plants and causing overflows and pollution by encouraging percolation into the soil. Converting these swales is just wasting public dollars. People often do not understand what swales do in a beneficial way and simply want to get rid of them instead of being sure that they are properly seeded with grass and maintained. One example of this widespread ignorance took place in St. Catharines when a community lobbied the council to replace their swales with curbs and gutters and won. They later asked the council to water the boulevards since the grass had died from lack of water and become unsightly. Their bad lobbying resulted in problems they did not anticipate.
The issue of swales versus curbs and gutters shows the importance of having councillors elected who truly care for the protection of the environment. This is my whole motivation for running to serve on council. I lost narrowly in the last election and will if I continue to enjoy good health and avoid folly, will try again. I hope your readers will help me in these efforts.
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There is no question that the so-called “new councillors” offer the brightest prospect for positive change, and I agree we have an obligation to our supporters to fight for change on their behalf and at least expose publicly the political and organizational culprits who stand against us.
Regional Councillor Andy Petrowski
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The annual increase in rates for sewer and water is a perfect example of regressive pricing. There should be INCENTIVES rather than PENALTIES for saving water. I congratulate Mr. Bacchus for bringing this information to the site.
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Mr. Taliano is correct. The community has been asked to save water over the last decade and our bills have doubled in the same time period. As most know, the 11 municipalities in Niagara are responsible for billing water usage. Today, too many cities and towns including St. Catharines are understating the weight of fixed costs in our water and waster water treatment fees. While this city insists on billing water with a 75% variable rate, the truth is that fixed costs represent about 80% of the total price tag. The other problem the city ignores is that commercial properties like apartment buildings and shopping plazas are often paying the same fixed cost dollar fee as any individual residential property notwithstanding that the service is being provided to upwards of hundreds of separate units.
The current water bill is a joke and until the ratepayers take a public stance and/or demand action from their political leaders they will continue to get hosed by their monthly bill.
Regional Councillor Andy Petrowski
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