The solution to end homelessness can be found in my last study comparing Owen Sound to 7 other municipalities. Essentially what I concluded from doing this research is that Owen Sound's expenses are at a minimum $5.0 million more than similarly sized municipalities and likely as high as $10.0 million. It appears city hall is overstaffed. Realizable reductions in expenses can be achieved within a year by applying sound change management and financial management techniques. This will immediately free up at a minimum $5 million and possibly up to $10.that can be reassigned to roll out a Housing First Program. My complete conclusions and recommendations are below.

Total Expenses per Capita - source: Municipal Audited Financial Statements

The chart above, shows total expenses per capita. When we look at our Primary Comparative Group, as shown with red lettering, we see that Owen Sound once again leads this group by significant margins. We see that Strathroy is quite a bit lower than Owen Sound in total expenses. However, Middlesex Centre is the closest this time with expenses per capita of $1,500 compared to Owen Sound at $2,399. Although it does look like much, the difference of $890 per resident is a huge sum. When you multiply this by Owen Sound 's population it works out to be a difference in expenses to run the city of $19 million. Middlesex does have a slightly smaller population so it could be that they do not provide the same level of services that Owen Sound provided its residents.

This supports the data from the previous two sources and removes the uncertainty of contracted out services. It makes it clear that one of the reasons that Owen Sound needs higher taxes is to support the abnormally high expenses as compared to Strathroy, Middlesex, Tillsonburg and Springwater. Again, the reason for this could be that these municipalities are providing fewer services; hence, it costs less to run their municipalities. The only way to know for sure is to do a detailed service comparison with all four of these municipalities. If they are providing the same services, at the same level, whether contracted or not, then the solution is simple, reduce Owen Sound 's expenses to match theirs. As we saw above this will likely require a reduction in the workforce.

Free Up Unnecessary Spending and Address the Issue of the Unhoused

When we look at what the Sunshine List is costing us each year, beyond what Strathroy-Caradoc pays, it becomes clear why our Salaries and Benefits expense is so high as compared to Strathroy. Owen Sound pays nearly $4.9 million more on Sunshine List salaries than Strathroy-Caradoc. This suggests that senior staff salaries have grown well beyond the city 's growth? This didn 't happen overnight. I suspect that it occurred over a twenty (20) year period with annual incremental changes that would go unnoticed in any particular budget year. Regardless of how we got here, it appears that the city has an overabundance of senior staff in comparison to Strathroy. Council owes it to taxpayers to fully investigate this disparity and direct the changes necessary to right-size management staff. However, given the magnitude of this disparity, it will take a few years to correct this apparent imbalance.

In a recent study we found that Owen Sound 's Salaries and Benefits Expense was, at a minimum, $11.6 million more than what it should be based a comparison with Strathroy. At the time of this study in 2022 Owen Sound had 73 senior staff earning $100,000 or more, while the closest municipality to Owen Sound in the study, Strathroy, has only 34 senior staff on this List. That tells us that Owen Sound could save at least $5,0 million each and every year if it just matched Strathroy 's numbers on the Sunshine List. However, that number has grown substantially. In 2024 Owen Sound had 85 employees on the sunshine list - check it out!

The Facts

The Answer to Our Housing Problem

It's simple council needs to direct expense reductions - not reductions in service but reductions in staffing.  Introduce sound fiscal management principles that have been absent in Owen Sound for some time. By changing how we do business we can free up as much as $10 million to address issues that have been ignore by councils over the past 20 years. With this we could both reduce taxes and significantly improve services such as public transportation. Most importantly we could address the housing issue head on. Housing the unhoused should be a high priority for council. However the feedback I receive when I ask members of council to address this issue and mitigate the pain felt by these residents, is, as out mayor frequently tells us: "Not my problem - it's a county problem"  I disagree. I believe that the safety and welfare of Owen Sound residents is a city problem which should be a high priority for all members of council.