Hike to office budgets about better service

But some Hamilton councillors say $600,000 increase is bad form amid 6.7% overall tax hike

Councillors say a $600,000 hike to their office budgets will allow them to better serve residents.

They backed the increase over last year’s $4.3-million total for all 15 offices during talks to finalize the city’s overall $1billion operating levy.

Without the $40,000 boost apiece, it would be “very difficult” to offer adequate services, Coun. Cameron Kroetsch said.

“I’m happy to return anything that I don’t use,” the new Ward 2 councillor said last week.

Kroetsch made an initial pitch to increase the 15 office budgets in December but it didn’t fly. A second attempt, with a lower dollar amount and referral to budget talks, won favour.

In support, councillors said they needed the increase to properly engage residents, through hall rentals for meetings or via digital platforms and mail-out flyers, and pay staff fair wages.

“The current office budget is just barely sufficient to kind of do the bare minimum,” said Coun. John-Paul Danko, re-elected to a second term in Ward 8 this past fall.

Coun. Craig Cassar said the press had portrayed the hike as “selfish and a slush fund,” but that’s not the case.

“There is no money to councillors. There is no extravagance,” the new Ancaster councillor said. “It’s paying people fairly to do a good job.”

But other councillors said they were reluctant to back the boost while trying to rein in an overall city budget hike hovering at 6.7 per cent.

“My conscience is bothering me in terms of the potential double standard that I’m going to set here if I support an increase to my office budget,” Coun. Tom Jackson said.

The longtime Ward 6 councillor said his team works “extremely hard” to serve the nearly 40,000 residents of the east Mountain, but such an increase would be “unconscionable for me.” In the same vein, Coun. Brad Clark suggested his colleagues had “jumped to the conclusion” that they need more staff to better respond to calls and emails.

Some new councillors say their budgets are too tight without having even served a year to assess if that’s the case, the Stoney Creek veteran argued.

“You came in and said you need more money and that’s a problem for me and that’s a problem for the average taxpayer in this city.”

The motion passed 11-4 with Clark, Jackson, Mark Tadeson (Ward 11) and Matt Francis (Ward 5) in opposition.

Council is scheduled to sign off on the budget March 29.