City to steal more money from Winnnipeggers pockets AND shut the housing market down.

Thank you...Just doing my thing...Fed up with this Sammy and so much more...GGF

Did you see Sammy trying to add a tax on a tax in today's paper?

yup... but I see you already commented on it

Welcome to the sandbox GGF. I look forward to your interesting "stylings"...

Hey grumpy old man...
Thank You...spread the word...
And let's have ourselves a bit of fun...GGF

Yep this will really kill the housing market how Wpg , always thinking about cost.

Hey there Pav...Hello...We have to add the following slogan to Wpg....

Sammy...

S...Stole
A...All
M...My
M...Money
Y...Yesterday

"You steal I club you back"...GGF

Does anyone seriously think that a $180 fee is going to slow down our "hot" housing market?

I don't see a problem with the fee, but I'm always sceptical when bureaucrats say they need to hire more people to do anything.

its not the fee that will slow it down. but the impact of actually having to wait for the guys and the number of houses that will need to go through all the proper zoning ( fixes, tear downs, permit application processes) etc.

It's not just the fee in itself that's the problem...Pls check my other responses elsewhere and in relation to subject matter...GGF

Freeman wrote:Does anyone seriously think that a $180 fee is going to slow down our "hot" housing market?

I don't see a problem with the fee, but I'm always sceptical when bureaucrats say they need to hire more people to do anything.

The fee isn't going to slow things down but rather the time it will take to get a permit thingy.

With so few people working the line so to speak, it'll take months to get one...or longer.

ya beat me to it....

Maybe thats why they are putting the onus on the buyer to produce it within 2 months of purchase, so that the sale is not delayed. Still, nothing says that the buy can't put a condition in the purchase agreement that the vendor pays for it and that the certifcate agrees with what the vendor says.

A little more work for the realtor, but what the hell, they're getting 7%.

Are you also ready to take the day(s) off work to go get the permit?

Because you may not know this...but unless you are "contractor" which the city will allow you to apply on line and pay for it etc...and as far as I am aware of...That service is not the same for residential homeowners...and also know as a matter of fact that you are always forced to go in and do something with that department otherwise it may take you years to satisfy that departments requirements...It is just the way that dept. works...ask anyone that has had to go through it and you will see...

That dept is the most dysfunctional Dept in Wpg and they are also always at war with the mayor etc because he tries to get them to do things that are virtually impossible under the current conditions and mainly under some of the present by-laws which I will pick on a major one at some later time...I nick named that by-law in particular "Sammy's Baby By-Law" and it is extremely dangerous to have here in Wpg...

What Sammy spins and what is truly going on are two very separate issues for those that know...At any rate...more at some other time...GGF

@ GGF OK, OK, I got it, you don't like the Mayor, but don't blame the outbreak of WWII on him.

The Planning Dept is pretty sad, but theres a lot of high priced help in there and what are they doing to improve things...not much.

PS Are you running for Mayor?

No but if people keep asking me that I might just have to...GGF

Great, democracy in action. What would be your platform? What is your vision for the City?

ps I'm not asking.

"but don't blame the outbreak of WWII on him."

can we blame his parents?

Deank wrote:"but don't blame the outbreak of WWII on him."

can we blame his parents?

That would probably be fine.

Simple...If I was ever running which I am not at the moment my platform would be...

"Accountability" to the voters/taxpayers...Open books...Period....

Accountability from all our governments and transparency is what I am all about...and the starting point is with our municipal governments because they should be the easiest to achieve that with...

And for some of what is going on right now on the subject matter of "Accountability" check out the BBC world news and in the UK...Big government scandal happening right now involving their politicians personal expenses including criminal charges for 4 of them at the moment...Big one...and...

It is so important the reasons why "Democracies" are going to have to become more "Accountable" if they are to survive and what is happening in the UK is but one of the reasons...GGF

Sam tried to make the council expenses more accountable and somewhat did, however many members of council were against it.

GGF wrote:Simple...If I was ever running which I am not at the moment my platform would be...

"Accountability" to the voters/taxpayers...Open books...Period....

Accountability from all our governments and transparency is what I am all about...and the starting point is with our municipal governments because they should be the easiest to achieve that with...

And for some of what is going on right now on the subject matter of "Accountability" check out the BBC world news and in the UK...Big government scandal happening right now involving their politicians personal expenses including criminal charges for 4 of them at the moment...Big one...and...

It is so important the reasons why "Democracies" are going to have to become more "Accountable" if they are to survive and what is happening in the UK is but one of the reasons...GGF

What portion of the total city budget is made up of personal expenses of the elected officials?

It's there and I don't know what the true #'s are...I have other things to do and worry about right now...and for the record...Opening the books is the actual ability to track money coming from a to b to c and back and so forth and not what governments show us now which is usually a total somewhere...I want to see the detail fine print like auditors see and I would let all the public see...True Accountability...GGF

Freeman wrote:

GGF wrote:Simple...If I was ever running which I am not at the moment my platform would be...

"Accountability" to the voters/taxpayers...Open books...Period....

Accountability from all our governments and transparency is what I am all about...and the starting point is with our municipal governments because they should be the easiest to achieve that with...

And for some of what is going on right now on the subject matter of "Accountability" check out the BBC world news and in the UK...Big government scandal happening right now involving their politicians personal expenses including criminal charges for 4 of them at the moment...Big one...and...

It is so important the reasons why "Democracies" are going to have to become more "Accountable" if they are to survive and what is happening in the UK is but one of the reasons...GGF

What portion of the total city budget is made up of personal expenses of the elected officials?

ZERO

they are not allowed to put personal expense on city credit cards even if they are paying them back the next day. They must have a proven city reason to be able to expense it or use city credit cards.

GGF wrote:It's there and I don't know what the true #'s are...I have other things to do and worry about right now...and for the record...Opening the books is the actual ability to track money coming from a to b to c and back and so forth and not what governments show us now which is usually a total somewhere...I want to see the detail fine print like auditors see and I would let all the public see...True Accountability...GGF

Could be some privacy issues with that, as well as the increased cost of making that much detail available to the public. Of course, the benefit vs cost has to be considered.

I am not sure what exactly people think is not available? how much they spent on a specific load of gravel? Isn't good enough to know that X million was spent on gravel per project?

Yup...Once you know where every load of gravel went etc...You now can scrutinize gov. and make them accountable...Period...Governments have been using the big numbers to hide behind for years which do not ever tell the whole story...

The details are in the small numbers which auditors look at some but never all and it is where most of the government waste is...and those are the numbers I want the public have access to...which will then help the public make governments "Accountable" back to the tax paying public...

I can 100% guarantee anyone that once the fine details become public...There will be some in the public that will make a "sport of it" to go over the numbers and I would love to see what they would come up with...It would make our governments squirm to say the least...and...

And my final point is that the technology is there for governments to start providing these details...Hell I'll even tell anyone that the information is already there on data bases with the government but the public cannot access it...and those that get to see the data are employees who are bond by-law to not talk about it etc regardless of with the new whistle blower legislation or not etc...Hell look at what's happening with the independent consulting firm and Hydro and the lengths Hydro is going to prevent it from going public...The are many details in that report that could make everyone squirm at Hydro or with the Province...None the less...For most of what I am talking about in terms of the fine details...You almost have to be an accountant or at the very least have a decent understanding about accounting and how accounting works etc...GGF