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Posted Dec 1, 2009, 5:53 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
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Two stories today:
Quote:
Calgary alderman apologizes as Race City quip draws fire
BY JASON MARKUSOFF, CALGARY HERALD DECEMBER 1, 2009 7:02 AM
CALGARY - Ald. Ric McIver has apologized for saying he hopes the Race City track sues the city and wins, after a colleague fired a veiled rebuke at him in council.
McIver has spearheaded the push to have city officials renegotiate the lease with the speedway in his ward rather than force the property to become part of a landfill expansion.
When council last week refused to spend $3 million on necessary infrastructure to allow Race City to stay, the southeast aldermen lashed out at what he viewed as the city's bid to kill Race City.
"I'm still hopeful we'll come to a deal. Or, if worst comes to worst, I hope Race City is successful in suing the city to get their lease reinstated," McIver told reporters last week.
It's exceedingly rare for politicians to express hopes their own government loses anything, especially not a court battle.
Ald. Gord Lowe didn't mention McIver by name, but did note the reported comments and asked during Monday's council meetings if aldermen carried the same responsibility as corporate directors.
"Given the published comments, I know if I was on the board of a publicly owned company and had done something like that, I can fully expect to be tossed off the board," Lowe said in an interview afterwards.
"And my director's insurance would vanish and I'd be at the tender mercies of the shareholders, the board and the corporation."
Bronconnier said Lowe's query about "fiduciary duty" would be dealt with behind closed doors.
Asked about the situation, McIver said he regretted saying something he didn't really mean to say.
"When you say something stupid and it gets recorded, the best thing you can do is say I'm sorry," he said.
"And I'm happy to say I'm sorry."
jmarkusoff@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...975/story.html
Quote:
Calgary council halts efforts to cut tax increase
Council opts to stand by its 2010 budget adjustments, settling on a property tax increase of 4.79 per cent, which will add about $54 a year to the municipal portion of the average residential bill.
BY KIM GUTTORMSON, CALGARY HERALD DECEMBER 1, 2009 7:02 AM
CALGARY - The city won’t be trying to further reduce next year’s tax increase, after hearing Monday that it would require more cuts to staff, including the police.
After an in camera briefing late Monday night, council voted 13-2 to not pursue additional cuts that could drop the 4.79 per cent tax increase by a percentage point.
“I was looking for better suggestions to reduce the budget,” Ald. Ric McIver said Monday of the reversal. “I’m extremely disappointed.”
McIver, who asked for staff to find another $9 million in savings, said the suggestions council heard Monday night behind closed doors “were not helpful.”
He had hoped for “a plan B that we never got to see” during last week’s budget debate.
But Ald. Gord Lowe, chairman of the finance committee, said the move didn’t make sense.
“They identified what the cost would be in terms of significant impact to personnel, including going back on the promise not to impact police servicing,” he said. “Council elected not to go there.”
Last week, council approved its 2010 budget adjustments, settling on a property tax increase of 4.79 per cent, which will add about $54 a year to the municipal portion of the average residential bill.
After that final budget vote, McIver proposed city staff go back and find another $9 million in cuts, which would reduce the increase to 3.79 per cent.
It was a move criticized by some of his colleagues, who argued that administration had already cut the budgets of most departments by 1.7 per cent to get the tax increase to where it was.
That included eliminating job positions, including more than 30 layoffs, and scaling back some low-use bus routes.
During a day-long budget debate Nov. 23, council itself eliminated about $200,000 from the $2.5 billion operating budget, but then added another $68,000 back in.
Council was told Monday that finding any additional savings would mean going to the police budget — left untouched in the first round of cuts — as well as the auditor and civic partners, such as the library and science centre.
The police budget would have been by far the largest part of any reductions and had presented proposed cuts during the initial round of budget talks which were rejected by council.
“It would absolutely result in cuts to people, primarily in the police budget,” Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart said. “Council made a decision to leave the police budget alone.”
Ald. Linda Fox-Mellway said McIver’s original motion didn’t leave staff much choice.
“It asks administration to perform some function without any realistic suggestions,” she said. “They need direction, that’s our jobs here.”
kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...268/story.html
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