{"id":4156,"date":"2013-10-09T14:22:32","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T18:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4156"},"modified":"2013-10-16T16:12:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T20:12:00","slug":"aurorans-pay-a-higher-price-for-more-services-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurorans-pay-a-higher-price-for-more-services-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurorans pay a higher price for more services: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora residents enjoy more public programs and services than neighbours, but also pay a higher price per person.<\/p>\n

Those are among the key findings presented to Councillors last week as part of a service level review. The review, conceived during last year\u2019s budget process to see just how much bang the average Aurora resident is getting for their buck, finds that when compared to similar municipalities \u2013 municipalities comparable based on population, demographics, the size of their annual operating budgets, and other factors \u2013 Aurora has a higher level of service when it comes to parks and recreation, as well as roads maintenance. <\/p>\n

The study was carried out by MNP Consulting and presented by Ian Smith. In his presentation, he said focus groups including Council members, municipal directors and program managers, said while there is always room for efficiencies, the general public was \u201chappy\u201d overall with the services they receive for their tax dollar. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t hear that Council was concerned with a lot of the services being provided, feeling the residents were generally satisfied with the services offered,\u201d said Mr. Smith. \u201cBut there are certainly opportunities you identified that could do it efficiently and effectively.\u201d
\nMore \u201ceffective and efficient\u201d service was a strategy highlighted by Councillors last week as a way to move forward, along with further public consultation to hear what the taxpayers think firsthand. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get questions on services,\u201d said Mayor Geoffrey Dawe of feedback he has received from residents. \u201cI have definitely had people say \u2018reduce taxes\u2019, but I have never had anybody say reduce services. I have never had anybody say, \u2018pick up garbage every four weeks, not every two weeks.\u2019 I have never had anybody say, \u2018don\u2019t plow the snow as often.\u2019
\n\u201cMy gauge is people are not asking to reduce services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Dawe said he agreed with comments earlier in the evening made by Councillor John Gallo that it is important to engage the public on their views on these services. Councillor Gallo questioned how best to gauge what the public actually want when given a full inventory of the services Aurora provides. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we sure the level of services we provide are satisfied?\u201d asked Councillor Gallo. \u201cI have been here for six years\u2026but I don\u2019t remember seeing the study done where we have [asked] the public, \u2018are you satisfied with the level of service we\u2019re providing?\u2019 That is important and it is not referenced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Smith said no definitive study has been done to take the pulse of \u201ccommunity satisfaction\u201d, and comments within the study were \u201ctaken as anecdotal.\u201d Aurora CAO Neil Garbe added, however, that last year\u2019s capital budget included funds for a similar survey, which was ultimately deferred until next year to have something ready for the incoming Council. <\/p>\n

For Councillor John Abel, improving service levels is very important but at the end of the day \u201cefficiency means let\u2019s do it cheaper, and that is good business practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil needs to look very carefully in its last year of budget in doing it efficiently and cheaper, which means it will be less to the taxpayer,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, we have to act responsibly and we have learnt that from the infrastructure level, to attract business and sustain our community, we have to invest in replacing our capital and that is a very important issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Michael Thompson expressed a slightly different view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is centred on efficiencies and effectiveness, but I was looking for a little bit more innovation. I know we do a good job in providing services, I know we can always be more efficient and effective, we can always look at cost savings, but is there a better way to deliver the services? Is there innovation?
\n\u201cThere is nothing [here] to hang your hat on and have that deep discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Councillor who did not provide her comments to the consultant was Councillor Evelyn Buck. She said she did not look at service levels from an administrative perspective, rather from a political one.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy preoccupation is how much it costs people and what level of service are you willing to provide, and how best can you provide it at the least possible cost?\u201d she said. \u201cWhen do you recognize the limits of what people can afford? Councillors said people are very happy and satisfied with the level of service they are getting. That is not my experience. The people I experience are outraged by the amount of money this Council is spending on the various levels of service.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Councillor Buck, one source of this \u201coutrage\u201d is the money given annually for the operation of the Aurora Cultural Centre without revenue coming back into Town coffers, compared to programs in the Parks and Recreation department which this study shows have a fairly healthy return on investment. <\/p>\n

For Councillor Wendy Gaertner, going back to nature was something to keep in mind when looking at service levels. Road management, she added, was worth a closer look.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents might be happy with the service levels we provide, but do they want to pay for those service levels?\u201d she asked. \u201cThat, to me, is a very important question going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora residents enjoy more public programs and services than neighbours, but also pay a higher price per person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-152","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-20 05:34:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}