Sternthal’s numbers ‘outlandish’ It is regrettable that I must address some of the outlandish and false claims made by David Sternthal in regards to the financial situation and spending habits of Hampstead published in last weeks Suburban opinion page . Sternthal’s claims run counter to the facts , as know by our auditors, our finance head Charles Ohayon, and our director general Richard Sun. For example, Sternthal claims our long term debt is $16 million when, in fact, it is $13 million. This amount is well within our ability to pay debt servicing costs of 12.4 cents per dollar of revenue. In fact, our debt levels are 30 percent lower than other towns of similar size. In addition, David uses unspent, unused and unallocated wish lists of infrastructure projects to claim false shortages in revenue. Sternthal claims Hampstead has a shortfall of $3.75 million when our auditors show we have accumulated a $1.5 million surplus . David also chooses to ignore our spending of $8.2 million on roads, vehicles and water mains and he ignores our establishing for the first time in Hampstead, an orderly plan to attack our infrastructure deficiencies. These deficiencies developed while he was a councillor in the previous administration for 15 years. We have allowed a reasonable increase in our debt from $9.4 million to $13.1 million to begin reconstruction of the very infrastructure his tenure allowed to fall into disrepair. Of our debt I would highlight the fact that $4.4 million of this debt involves only repaying the principal over 20 years with no interest payment required (saving 2.2 million over 20 years), a financing package that I along with our staff constructed. The claims made by Sternthal in his op-ed piece are truly bizarre in light of the fact that he has vote YES for every budget and yearly capital project proposal in the last four years. This is quite a contortion, and only explainable by aggressive tactics employed in his campaign for mayor. This campaign has also exhibited poor judgment when it recommended the town fire lawyer Julius Grey solely for his political views. I sincerely hope that Mr. Sternthal and his proclaimed running mates who are primarily Langhorne residents opposed to the Langhorne park dog run, fire station redevelopment and traffic calming reconsider their obfuscating and underhanded methods. These tactics have no place in an election in a small residential community town like Hampstead. Councillor Clifford Borden
Finance and traffic portfolio
Hampstead ••• Forget photo radar... just tell me the speed The installation of photo radar reflects the negligence of city and provincial transport officials to provide a better solution to reduce speeding when they are fully aware of that solution. It well complements the work of police officers in the past who ticketed according to their ever changing daily discretion which keeps the motorist ignorant. Simply tell the motorist the speed at which they will receive a ticket; it is done in many provinces. Program photo radar for that speed. Change the thousands of present signs so they provide continuous deterrents and reminders if they stated, for example, 100kph/$110 or 50kph/$58 or whatever those same experts decide. Precedence demonstrates that tickets are rarely issued at just over the posted speed. The statistics should be reviewed after three months, not a year. There will be horror stories; it is conceivable that within a week before receiving notice in the mail, a motorist can receive 10 tickets because those responsible refuse to enlighten us.
Hopefully all media will “talk it up” until the message is received by those who up to now appear to “have a hearing problem”. Michael Shafter
Montreal •••
Give money to boards who ask Hydro-Quebec’s public relations department has taken quite a hit lately because of its educational donation practices. As a school taxpayer, here is a thought which ties in with the reported suggestion by the natural resources minister that the utility “support cash-strapped public schools.”
Give some money directly to the governing boards of schools that request a donation for specific purposes. Hydro-Quebec should not donate any money directly to school boards, as it is my observation that such monies are difficult to track. Parents are constantly baffled by the school boards’ semi-transparent method of allocation of funds. Consider the parental concerns and the shameful actions of the Pearson board outlined in the Oct. 22, 2008, letter to The Suburban: School board governance . Anyway, this type of directed contribution will serve to benefit both students and Hydro-Quebec’s image. Chris Eustace
Pierrefonds
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