Every year the province publishes sunshine list which mandates companies that receive public funding to release the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of workers who make at least $100,000.
In 2024 here in Niagara taxpayers spent over $3 million dollars on CAOs salaries whereas the City of Hamilton spent $280,000. In addition Niagara taxpayers spent over $1.8 million on fire chief salaries whereas the City of Hamilton spent $223,027.
These represent just 2 examples of the duplication in the administration of our municipal services that is occurring here in Niagara. Other examples of duplication are in Finance, planning, public works, economic development and the list goes on and on.
Taxpayers can no longer afford to pay for this bloated duplicated administration which is clearly cost local taxpayers millions upon millions more than it should.
I found it interesting the average salary for a person living in the Niagara region is $54,738. There was almost 16% increase in the number of municipal employees now getting more than $100,000 per year across Niagara.
For those who argue that amalgamation will cost taxpayers more in the long run, I have yet to see a convincing argument/data showing me this. I do not subscribe to this contention as based on this data I would argue not doing anything and maintaining the status quo will cost local taxpayers way more in the long run.
I encourage people to check out the information at https://www.ontariosunshinelist.com/.
Our governance system is broken and flawed here in Niagara and local politicians are paralyzed to do anything about it. The provincial government needs to step in and stop this madness.
The Property Taxpayers Alliance is an organization lobbying the Ontario government to put legislation into effect that puts guardrails onto municipalities whose councils cannot control their spending.
I encourage you to review the work that is being done by this group by visiting www.propertytaxpayer.ca and requesting a copy of their newsletter. #timeforchange
Allen McKay
Ontario Property Taxpayer Alliance, Manager Region of Niagara
allen.mckay@propertytaxpayer.ca
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