How Windsor’s services compare to other cities
Among 173 items measured, higher tax arrears, lower snow removal costs: report
Windsor had double the tax arrears, more waste water that isn’t properly treated and fewer website users than the median for 15 Canadian municipalities in 2016.
But it spends half of the average rate on winter road clearing, and less than most for water treatment and distribution. Its governance and senior management costs are just 87 per cent of the median rate.
These are a few good-and-bad, cherry-picked examples from 173 measurements — most of them per capita — in the MBNCanada Performance Measurement Report, which goes to city council Monday.
“Those numbers are the starting point, and then you have to dig a little deeper to see what’s causing the issue,” said City of Windsor CAO Onorio Colucci.
The data measures the city’s performance on everything it’s involved in, from social services to sewage systems, from policing to city parks.
“We look at these things and we take it into account moving forward, but I don’t think there’s anything that took us by surprise,” said Colucci, who sits on the MBNCanada board. Other participants include Montreal, Toronto, London, Calgary, Sudbury, Hamilton, Regina and Thunder Bay.
One result that did get his attention was the low readership for the city’s website: just five visits per person in 2016, compared to a median of 14.5 for all the municipalities that submitted data.
Other disappointing numbers are already being worked on, Colucci said. The fact that the percentage of waste water bypassing sewage treatment is 597 per cent higher than the median reflects the city’s historic problem with combined sewers, which causes huge volumes flooding into the treatment plants following big storms.
“Yes, we do have a legacy of combined sewers that’s hundreds of kilometres and you can’t undo these things overnight,” he said. In recent years, the city has spent $67 million to build an underground retention treatment basin along the riverfront and $110 million upgrading the Lou Romano Water Reclamation Plant.
“It’s a work in progress, for sure, but a lot of money’s being spent to address the issues,” Colucci said.
Windsor’s higher-than-average tax arrears are likely a hangover from the last recession, he said. Some property owners are still trying to dig out.
Areas where the city does poorly — like sewage issues and house fires — reflect its age, he said. “It’s tough to have the older housing stock and compare yourselves to municipalities that have sprung up in the last 30 or 40 years.”
While the report shows that Windsor’s residential building permits have been rising, from 2,203 in 2014 to 2,441 in 2016, it shows the number of new permits per 100,000 population — 239 in 2016 — is about half the median of 474.
Windsor also ranks No. 1 in complaints from residents about noise, property standards and messy yards. This is mainly because the city’s 311 system is so easy to use, according to staff.
The number of police officers (per 100,000 population) was 20 per cent higher than the median and the cost for policing in Windsor was 34 per cent higher. However, the number of criminal incidents per capita in Windsor was 32 per cent higher than the median and the number of criminal incidents per officer was 12 per cent higher.
The bigger costs and crime numbers happen in jurisdictions that are largely urban, as opposed those which have both rural and urban areas, says a report by city staff. “In the case of Windsor, our resource deployment focus on serious crime (violent) has resulted in an above average rate of solving these crimes.”
Windsor firefighters are much busier than firefighters in most other municipalities. While staffing levels are a little lower than average, and the response time of six minutes and 36 seconds is almost exactly the average for all urban fire calls and the number of structure fires per 1,000 houses is 58 per cent higher than the median. The number of fire-related injuries per 100,000 population is by far the highest at 13.35 while the number of fire fatalities, at 1.38 per 100,000 population, was 329 per cent higher than the median.
The cost of fire service, based on in-service vehicle hours, was 58 per cent higher than the median, which staff blame partly on the 2013 arbitration ruling, which reduced the firefighter work week from 48 to 42 hours and significantly increased pay.
The cost of maintaining parkland was 176 per cent higher than the median, a disparity explained partly by the fact Windsor’s winters are shorter, resulting in more maintenance to park facilities.
It works the other way for snow clearing. Windsor’s costs are only 51 per cent of the median and dropped from $3,345 per kilometre in 2014 to to $2,406 last year. “Milder winters have contributed to the declining trend,” says the city staff explanation.
The number of Transit Windsor trips is just 78 per cent of the median. The number of trips per capita has been a steady 30 per year between 2014 to 2016. Staff report that the Transit Windsor numbers have risen since September of 2016, when University of Windsor students began using universal bus passes.
We recycle only 39 per cent of our residential solid waste, compared to a median of 45 per cent. The tonnes of solid waste per household going to the landfill was 0.58 in 2016, compared to a median of 0.52 for all municipalities.
The percentage of properties in tax arrears, compared to the total tax levy in 2016, was 4.3 per cent, which is almost double the median of 2.2 per cent. Meanwhile, bad debt writeoffs were 800 per cent higher than the median. A staff explanation says $491,000 in writeoffs in 2016 was a housekeeping measure to remove a series of “old uncollectible receivables from the books.”
We have the second-fewest regulated childcare spaces (185 per 1,000 children under 12) and only 22 per cent of the median number of emergency shelter beds per 100,000 population.
Arts funding is where Windsor is most notably lacking. The city gives grants equivalent to $1.07 per capita, which is lowest among the listed municipalities, 22 per cent of the median, and a shadow of what Montreal funds — $18.52.
The wait list for social housing is 56 per cent higher than the median. And Windsor has the second most paid parking spaces of any municipality, with 2,044 per 100,000 population, compared to a median of 1,332.
It’s a work in progress, for sure, but a lot of money’s being spent to address the issues.