City Hall Budget

[MAPearce]

People who complain about city budgets, expenses, and payrolls are usually not good at math and have no experience in what it takes to run a city.

I wouldn't say that... Perhaps those people just expect that the money be spent in an "efficient " way .

You know , like stuff we need instead of Tourist Info Centres , grossly inflated "art work" and the rest of the trinkets that aren't really needed ...

[Jonrox]

But even if you’re asking for “efficient” spending by various levels of government, that’s not how personal finances work. All of us waste money on dumb crap all the time. Very few of us are efficient with our spending, yet you’re expecting government to be? That’s laughable, hypocritical, and impossible.

[LTD]

wish I had your money so I to could spend like government

[MAPearce]

But even if you’re asking for “efficient” spending by various levels of government, that’s not how personal finances work. All of us waste money on dumb crap all the time. Very few of us are efficient with our spending, yet you’re expecting government to be? That’s laughable, hypocritical, and impossible.

My personal finances are my personal business and yours are yours .. Public finances are the public's business ...

And as impossible as it is to expect government to be efficient with spending money doesn't negate the fact that they should be nor does it excuse them from public scrutiny .

Is that fair ?

[dirtybiker]

Think about the cost of maintainig or replacing aging infrastructure such as roads

And the fact it's 20+ years behind.

Doing things reactive in the stead of proactive.

Squandering monies on fluff, not substance.

[khutchi]

Maybe to simple, City hall budget increases should not be more then the rate of inflation. We have to live within our means and so should Governments.

That's not how governments work or even should work. The goals of government spending whether civic, provincial, or national are much different than personal finances and require a completely different approach.

Well said Jonrox. I'll never understand why this thinking is so rampant in Kelowna. The governments purse is not the same as one's chequing/saving account. The government has 100s more financial levers than any one person could ever have. That's why we have them.

[Zoso]

I would never expect a department to say they have enough money . Use the one big dump of snow to say your out of this months money before it thaws and seems non issue .

[Jonrox]

My personal finances are my personal business and yours are yours .. Public finances are the public's business ...

And as impossible as it is to expect government to be efficient with spending money doesn't negate the fact that they should be nor does it excuse them from public scrutiny .

Is that fair ?

Government can't be efficient with spending because the things they need to spend on aren't efficient.

It's the reason you see/saw drastic changes in the way Crown corporations operate when they go private. There are things that don't make financial sense to spend money on, but governments are required to anyway.

And although you think public finances are the public's business, the problems arise because the public are just a bunch of idiots with no experience in economics, construction, the scale of the country's industry, healthcare, etc... The public thinks they're experts because they use these services, but they actually don't have the slightest clue what it takes to provide those services... and you can group me in as being one of those idiots.

We send messages to the government all the time that we don't care about efficiency or budgets, yet we moan and complain about the smallest, most inconsequential expenses. You guys complain about one job at the city landfill, yet I'm sure a lot of you voted against the HST that would have saved us BILLIONS.

The public is too dumb to make important decisions on things like construction projects, tax policy, and city budgets. We make decisions and question things based on emotion, not common sense or experience.

[MAPearce]

The public is too dumb to make important decisions on things like construction projects, tax policy, and city budgets. We make decisions and question things based on emotion, not common sense or experience.

Really ....

As a member of the public who has brain I say Thanks man ...


Tell me that the new Tourist Info booth in a downtown park was a "common sense" decision ..

Tell me that chuck of old bridge painted red by the new bridge , that's called "art" , that cost too much was a "common sense " decision

[TMBOkanagan]

Tell me that chuck of old bridge painted red by the new bridge , that's called "art" , that cost too much was a "common sense " decision

Is that what that sculpture is? I always wondered... neat!

[LTD]

Well said Jonrox. I'll never understand why this thinking is so rampant in Kelowna. The governments purse is not the same as one's chequing/saving account. The government has 100s more financial levers than any one person could ever have. That's why we have them.

well I guess its ok to squander tax dollars since you put it that way, now back to reality land that's all the more reason for them to properly manage our tax dollars your thinking is what is actually flawed here

[Jonrox]

Putting a tourist center closer to where a lot of tourists are kinda makes sense. Tourism in the Okanagan is a billion dollar industry so I think it’s fairly important to support it.

What should public art pieces cost? Again, I’m an idiot when it comes to art... public, private, modern, classic, or otherwise. I’ve never had to commission a piece of artwork so have absolutely no experience in the purchase or creation of a piece. You seem to be an expert so your insights are appreciated.

[Jflem1983]

Do u happen to be a member of council or tourism Kelowna.

I dont even really see out of town plates anymore the way we used too. The economy has changed. Tourism is garbage. Replace it with industry. Wages and taxes will go up.
So tired of the city catering to people who dont even live here .

[Tootsie]

AS to : What should public art pieces cost?

I would say $0.00 right about now after trying to attend to an appointment in downtown Kelowna today. Maybe more money allocated to snow removal budget would be more appropriate than another art piece that nobody can figure out the meaning of anyway.

[phasyluck]

The powers that be in Kelowna are a joke...just my opinion though.