My letter to the editor, published in Milton Canadian Champion on July 31st, 2009:-
DEAR EDITOR:
I read Tim Foran’s column ‘Part-time council not realistic in this new ‘small city’ back in April, when he argued for a pared-down, full-time council.I’ve been thinking about that issue for a while and must say I prefer that Milton council stay part-time, for now at least.
Town councillors make about $26,000 a year, a third of it tax-free. Compare that to the cost of full-time councillors in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and other cities and one realizes that Milton spends less money on all eight local councillors than larger cities spend on just a couple, especially once you include office costs, personal staff and expense accounts fulltime councillors get.
It’s cheaper, at least financially, to have part-time councillors.
Milton has one part-time councillor for about every 10,000 residents, while Mississauga has one full-time councillor for 60,000 residents. At that ratio Milton would only get one full-time councillor if a switch was made. Even if we double this, we will end up with a council size of three — the mayor and two councillors. This is hardly a representative council for a town as diverse as Milton.
In addition, it’s expensive to have full-time local councillors who do not draw their salaries from serving regional council as well. This means that Milton’s full-time local councillors should also be regional councillors. This is what cities like Burlington and Mississauga do as well. This will also put a cap of only three councillors in Milton.
Then there is the accessibility issue. I believe that one passionate part-time councillor can represent a neighbourhood of 10,000 people a lot better than a single full-time councillor representing half the town.
It also allows each part of the town to elect a councillor who understands issues and challenges faced by that area, and can therefore effectively represent that ward.
Finally, it is easier for newcomers to enter politics if their wards have 10,000 people or so. As a result, a few incumbents lose their seats in every Milton election. That is not true in larger cities like Mississauga, where incumbents win by large margins because it is so difficult to challenge them.
It may be possible to make regional councillors serve fulltime while local councillors work part-time. That may relieve some of Foran’s concerns. I’m not sure if it is necessary, but it’s a better compromise than an exclusively full-time council in a town with less than 100,000 people.
Milton will one day grow to a size where the sheer number of part-time councillors will make a smaller number of full-time councillors an attractive option. However, at less than 100,000 people, Milton is not there yet.
ZEESHAN HAMID, MILTON
