Mayor Karen Farbridge's Blog

On July 20^th, 2010 Statistics Canada once again recognized Guelph as the safest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada based on the Crime Severity Index for total crime.  When the stats were examined for Violent Crime Severity we placed second with Quebec finishing slightly ahead of us. However, our non-violent crime severity index was lower than Quebec and when they are added together, we came out the lowest of all comparators and a very envious position to be in!

Congratulations Guelph for your endearing commitment to maintain Guelph as a very safe community.

After 18 years of planning, the Legion is finally breaking ground on a new building to meet their members needs.

Ground breaking ceremony for the new Legion building

Whenever I have delivered my annual state of the city address, I have always been able to say that unemployment rates track significantly lower in Guelph than provincial or national averages.  

That is except in 2009.  Unemployment rates rose across the country as a result of the economic recession and in Guelph we saw an even sharper increase in job losses.

Since the recession hit, I have corresponded with a family where the father, mother and son had all lost their jobs.  I spoke with a single father with two teenage children, one hoping to head to University this fall, who had lost his job, his home and was struggling to find suitable and affordable housing for his family.  This was the first time in his life he had experienced this level of financial uncertainty.  I spoke with another woman who was still employed but only because her work colleagues had taken a significant roll back in salaries. 

While we are seeing good signs that we are pulling out of the recession, the economic climate is still uncertain.  These are times when we all have to tighten our belts.

The closure of City facilities and the suspension of services for five non-consecutive days this summer are an unfortunate result of an $8 million revenue shortfall in 2010—a consequence of the economic recession. To avoid passing this cost onto tax payers in the form of higher property taxes Council voted to reduce the City’s payroll budget along with a number of other expenditure reductions. 

All City employees, including management and Councillors, are affected and will experience five unpaid days in 2010.  During these unpaid days of closure, services are affected because City employees are not working and are therefore not able to deliver service. This, while we realize creates an inconvenience, saves $1.2 million and has contributed to cutting $8 million out of City Hall’s budget. 

Believe me when I say that Council and staff understood all too well that these service reductions would cause inconvenience for our residents.  However,  I also believe it was the right thing to do. 

The loss of one weekly waste pick up out of 52 has helped ease our community through a recession. 

While we have done our best to communicate these temporary austerity measures, we recognize there will be residents in our community who will be taken by surprise by the closures and loss of service.  

On behalf of the City of Guelph, we thank you for your understanding while these temporary measures are in place.   We hope you will appreciate why they were necessary.  We apologize for the inconvenience they cause as we understand how valued and important our City services are to the citizens of Guelph.

As a result of the hot temperatures this week, the City of Guelph has extended the hours at wading pools and splash pads and opened the Sleeman Centre to help residents cool off.

For times and locations, please visit: http://guelph.ca/newsroom_display.cfm?itemID=79037

Also visit Guelph Hydro to learn tips to conserve energy during a heat wave: http://192.168.0.207/news.php