At risk of firing up a few of the more zealous amongst us.....here are some thoughts on the moneysense survey...this is the short version since it is a post and not a novel so it cant include everything and every nuance.. Every year the R&T loves this survey as it is sure to fire us up in twists and turns and damnation of our poor showing and every year i suggest to the R&T that it is an interesting read, has some good take-aways and has to be understood have meaning - i say this when it shows us moving up ( last year) or moving down ( this year) - In general the survey favours 3 locations - Alberta / Saskatchewan as oil drives wealth and growth - Large Cities and suburbs of large cities as these cities have growth from immigration, concentrated wealth, high income, and amenities - and government towns where wages remained high through the recession ( Kingston, Ottawa, Pettawawa) The Brockville it is measuring is 20,000 people in Urban Brockville and 20,000 people in rural Elizabethtown Kitley and Augusta townships. Stats Canada groups us together as a metropolitan area. 11% of the survey is for transit ( walking, biking and bussing to work) - right away we can eliminate just about all of the rural area from transit - they drive to work - and most Brockville residents use a car as a car is necesary to go anywhere just beyond our borders - it is a car oriented area - on the good side it tells us that investments in transit ( paths, busses etc) makes us more attractive so maybe we should be investing in the paths like our strategic plan says we should be doing..... 10% is weather which is in hands much above the payscale of anyone local - 4% is federal and provincial taxes which will be the same across Ontario. 24% is based on income and wealth - we are middle of the pack for small Ontario cities ( cities under 100,000 people) - Brockvilles average household income is $75,000 - this is the single largest challenge for us 10% is Unemployment and our unemployment rate is the 2nd lowest in eastern Ontario for cities under 100,000 ( Petawawa is lower) and below the Ontario Unemployment rate - sure we can wonder about the rates but they use the same measurements for all communities so this is a good news area. Growth is 8% and this (along with wealth) favours oil areas and immigration areas. Elizabethtown Kitleys population has declined by 10% over the last 2 census periods and Augusta has declined as well - together the urban area has virtually stayed the same while the rural area has declined - this is a worlwide trend and without oil ......but we are working on increasing immigration and have doubled the rate of immigration over the past 10 years compared to the previous 10 years Property tax accounts for only 3% of the survey but the things that property taxes pay for accounts for 20 - 30% of the survey directly....the survey suggests that investing in things that make the city more attractive is more important than the level of property tax charged...... locally we have tried to find a balance of competitive property taxes and investments in the community Crime stats account for 7% of the survey and local stats have been declining steadily for over 10 years in the same way they have been declining across North America so regardless of where we rank we continue to get safer every year. ( and we rank in the middle of the pack) Doctors and health care people counts for 10% and the authors thought this was our weak point - which is surprising since anyone who wishes to be on a doctors roster can be on a roster currently - but many of these doctors are located in offices in Prescott, Merrickville, Athens, and Gananoque,,which are not included in the metropolitan area but are serving people in the townships. Lastly - 6% for amenities and 5% for residents in the arts fields - this is good as it is exactly what we identified in the City strategic plan as areas that we need to invest in over the long run to make the city attractive ( Eureka - just what this survey is highlighting) the same as the active transportation areas earlier. Also, if you compare Stratfords numbers to Brockvilles you will see there is not a lot of difference but there is a wide difference in ranking - exactly what the authors said - minor differences will mean big difference in rank as many communities are in reality very close so - rank posiitioning not that important in this type of survey - areas we should focus on - invest in active transportation - paths, cycle friendly - cultural and recreation amenities - all identified in our current strategic plan and referred to annually at budget time Biggest challenge - increasing wages - in a brutally competitive market - even as we get more businesses ( unemployment rate is below average) getting higher wages is the challenge - and higher wages are increasingly coming from the service sectors ( Finance, banking, law, real estate, etc versus manufaturing) so - there is a long winded review - some good points from the survey - but lets not get our knickers in a twist about the ranking itself - we have work to do to make the city more attractive - investing in the city is a 10 - 15 - 20 year process. have at it David Henderson
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 03:16:14 +0000
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