-------- Your tax dollars at work ---------
For some time now I have listened to SWSDA and others deride the possibility of Shelburne having its own RDA. The primary reason given has been that we can't afford our own RDA.....
Frankly.... I don't know what a REAL RDA would cost since we've never had one... however, according to my own .... off the top of my head calculations ..... we have more than enough resources to create and successfully operate our very own development agency in Shelburne County.....
Indeed..... if push comes to shove..... we might even be able to run more than one in Shelburne County......
I haven't done all the sums but here are some preliminary figures showing funding of development and SWSDA just from the Municipality of Shelburne's financial statements over the past decade..... and I know there is more that I haven't been able to identify! I suggest the other municipalities in Shelburne County might want to take a look at their former contributions to SWSDA and for development purposes!
Here are totals I've added up for MOS .....
1998 - $12,047
1999 - $15,094
2000 - $ 73,512
2001 - $91,377
2002 - $284,429
2003 - $212,305
2004 - $269,668
2005 - $171,860
2006 - $115,567
2007 - $98,094
2008 - $105,901
Total - $1,449,854
Plus.... the Municipality of Shelburne has provided a guarantee of a loan to SWSDA for some $84,105 since 2004 and we have been paying the interest on that loan on behalf of SWSDA... It is not clear what the interest rate is but it presumably is one or two points over prime.
Plus .... the Municipality of Shelburne provides a guarantee of $61,500 on SWSDA's line of credit with the Royal Bank in Yarmouth.....
Plus ..... the Municipality of Shelburne recently provided SWSDA with an additional grant to compensate for its inability to increase its guarantee of SWSDA's indebtedness, provided a grant to SWSDA for its taxes in 2008/2009, provided another grant for its share of core funding for this fiscal year.... Plus, Plus, Plus!
Plus ..... the Municipality has provided and continues to provide SWSDA with grants and or contributions for a range of reasons including volunteer programs, etc.
Plus.... I am not certain if the numbers provided above include the monies contributed by the Municipality for construction of the Ocean Ventures Boat Shop at the Base or the Sound Stage.....
Anyway...... you get the idea..... it appears to me that SWSDA has been like a suckling pig at the teat of the Municipality of Shelburne since its inception with the complicit support of Wardens Nickerson and Scott over these many years..... SWSDA's former Co-chairs!
Thank God for the Shelburne Concerned Citizens revolution of a few years ago that stopped the former Wardens and our "Acting CAO of the Day" Reg Ridgely from pouring more of our hard earned money into the maw of SWSDA!
Question..... given the monies spent on SWSDA by the Municipality of Shelburne alone in the past.... and without getting down and counting the money spent by the other four municipalities in Shelburne County..... why can't we afford our own RDA?
Ombudsman Act
-
*****TRANSFORMING CLIENTS INTO CITIZENS******
CONCERNED CITIZENS PETITION WORKS!
It took a while but the petition from Concerned Citizens of Shelburne
app...
14 years ago
2 comments:
AMBITION BY MANY CARING INDIVIDUALS IS NEEDED TO HELP STRENGTHEN PROCESS...
Be brave and put helpful knowledge in print....
Anyone out there ?
DON'T HESITATE! GET INVOLVED IN POSITIVE WAY !!!
We're hoping things are going well for you Ed, and are thinking of you as we reread your blogs this morning.
We're curious about an article by K. Johnson in the 30th June Coast Guard where it states that MOS "...contributes $20,000 a year to SWSDA...".
It seems MOS doled out $106,000 in 2008, and $100,000 in 2007. Did K. Johnson's article omit a "few" details of MOS's total SWSDA yearly expenditures or are the ratepayers being led down the garden path?
It is encouraging that MOS is beginning to discuss dumping SWSDA, but it boggles the mind that it has taken this long for Ms. VanBuskirk to realize, "...we're flushing money down the toilet..." - that's what Mr. Gillespie has been telling them for years, and is just what your blogspot has confirmed Ed.
Geez, where were these councillor's brains when things started going south, and what involvement did they have in this whole sordid affair with Frank. There are many questions still to be answered, and our municipal reps have a lot of explaining to do.
Finally Warden Embree has stepped out of the shadows and is keeping his electorate up to speed on topics concerning our esteemed RDA. Let's hope it doesn't take another 13+ years to solve the problem.
P.S. Maybe our local weekly's reporters will begin using their investigative skills on issues that they previously deemed unfit to print instead of all the fluff they have been serving up! You are giving them higher standards to keep up with these days Ed.
All the best, The Morning Coffee Gang.
Post a Comment