John Steinke
Dear editor:
Even though I am old, I am one of the disgruntled taxpayers of this town.
Less than six months ago, we read in the local newspaper that our mayor and councillors were planning to do wonderful things for us, save us money, and generally do a good job for us. I personally felt uneasy by these statements from penny ante politicians.
Since then, the council meeting notes have outlined that fact that a survey of the town finances reveals that we won’t have enough funds to undertake the projects and costs envisioned by their employees.
Taxes have been increased and now our excellently-working water and sewer treatment plants are going to become cash cows to build a slush fund, or reserve, to tap into as they please.
First I find fault with the survey. Anyone that knows how surveys work realize that you can design the survey to accomplish the result you desire.
Not all the taxpayers in this town earn $25-$50 per hour. A lot of us are surviving on pension and savings funds from years in the past—$3 or less an hour.
As of this past week, our great paper company executives notified local company employees that they were at the bottom of the list in profit returns. Some curtailment of orders occurred and a partial shutdown is occurring, which means the laying off of employees who pay taxes.
Oh yes, this was after the company (recently under receivership proceedings) has deducted 20 percent plus from their wages. Reports have been heard that amounts to 30 percent less take-home pay.
Does council still think their survey has merits?
A slush fund, or reserve, would be enviable and desirable by any politician. Is it possible that our employees are leading your around by the nose? I, for one, think so. Does anyone else agree?
There is no one who can come up with a scheme to increase user rates for the “fantastic super library.” Maybe parking fees in the super parking lot.
The people responsible for the super costs should be able to pay.
Water meters! Who directly is responsible for that idea? The province built a wonderful facility and there is hardly a shortage of water. Of the three ways to leave town, two of them are over bridges that have millions of gallons of water under them.
Surely the costs to filter and purify water locally aren’t what they are elsewhere when their intake is someone else’s sewer exhaust.
As for the excessive use of water, one must wonder about the street repair dips, etc. Our wonderful engineering and town staff have been busily repairing the joints in the waterlines since shortly after they were installed.
If the water boiled to the surface when the bolts failed, a repair occurred and street dips and holes resulted. There are lots of them!
What about the leaks that don’t show up at the surface? If the town would let me, I could put down a well right next to the municipal water line and have more than enough treated, filtered, and pure drinking water—without a meter.
As far as the cost to install the meters, it is going to be in excess of $1,000 per house. We have a lot of old houses, with old plumbing and foreseen problems that the bureaucracy will have a heyday with, to say nothing of the licensed plumbers.
These won’t be do-it-yourself deals, and will involve expensive permits and inspections, etc.
As far as repairs to the “100-year-old sewers,” and damaged piping that we own, I have a suggestion. In my youth, I laid a lot of ceramic clay sewer pipes.
Anyone who has had anything to do with that pipe will tell you that it is extremely hard to damage it. It is almost impossible to bang a hole in it with a hammer (it rings like iron).
However, if one has ever tried to crush an egg, it is easy to see uneven force can do it. A baby chick has no problem to escape because very little force is required for it to escape from captivity inside.
Our town would have to conscientiously pressurize clay tile pipe from the inside to get the cracking damage that they are pointing out in the 100-year-old system. Ergo, do we have to look further than the equipment the town uses to flush, clean, and wash out clay pipes?
Does it pressurize the pipes from the inside?
I don’t have answers for the questions that are obvious to the taxpayer, but I think changes should be made!
Let’s start with a 20 percent deduction to all the payments made by the Town of Fort Frances. How about a month’s lay-off without pay?
Maybe someone else has some ideas to keep us from being a bankrupt but ambitious town.
Respectfully yours,
John Steinke
Fort Frances, Ont.
