Centre For Local Research into Public Space (CELOS)
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You are on the [cover page] of folder [PFR Cost Notebook]PFR Cost Notebook
This notebook includes a list of top earners for 2009 and a few notes on where some money goes that might be reviewed.
Dufferin Grove Park Newsletter insert September, 2007
Where the money goes – and maybe shouldn’t
When city staff say they can’t open the rinks because they have no money, CELOS researchers say: we have some suggestions. Redirect your spending. This little research group has been looking into where the Parks, Forestry and Recreation funds go (they have an annual budget of over $220 million). Doing this research is like pulling teeth, there are so many secrets. Here are some examples of what CELOS researchers have learned.
$600 goes for each for playground tested for arsenic – a test that takes 20 minutes of pre-lab labour (i.e. put some sand in three test tubes), and for which the lab charges $18 per sample.
$2000 goes to pay a consultant (an architect)
to help pick out the new rubber flooring for Dufferin
Rink House, and then to design a pattern of laying
the tiles.
''CELOS asked why this was so expensive:
no answer yet.''
'''$0.5 million goes for 8 new Parks By-law Enforce- ment Officers:''' But there doesn’t seem to be quite enough for the officers to do. So the by-law officers visited the park farmers’ market and told the farmers they’d all get tickets for parking at the market, and said the campfires are illegal too, and so is the cob wall. Dealing with crises generated by the bylaw-officers can be a labour-intensive activity. And at the end of the day there are eight new City jobs but less money to run the rinks and rec centres.
Waste diary
Evening washroom closings
May 10 2010, 8.50 pm: a city truck drives quickly into Dufferin Grove Park, drives right around the fieldhouse, stops for a moment, then drives quickly out again. There are two staff in the truck. Probably they came to close the washrooms. Only the washrooms have not yet been opened for the season. Are these two driving into lots of other parks where the washrooms are also still closed? Probably.
$29 an hour plus 26% benefits?
Computer waste
The IT people have ordered new point-of-sale computers for every rec centre. They can only process fees, nothing else. Until now, the rec staff assigned to taking in fees could also do other computer work, e.g. schedules, because s/he was using an ordinary computer. But it may be possible for credit cards to be hacked into, so the multi-purpose computers will all be replaced by single-purpose point-of-sale computers. That means the staff will sit with nothing to do when there is no one coming to pay.
The centres can keep their multipurpose computers but IT will no support them, i.e fix them when there's trouble. The centres have to take that out of their program budget.
Parks Forestry and Recreation salaries above $100,000: 2009
ABELA JOHN Supervisor, Property Management & Maintenance $109,787.16
ALLEVATO COSTANZA Manager, Community Recreation $103,116.03
ANDRADE ANTONIO Supervisor, Community Recreation $110,239.05
ANDREWS GORDON Manager, Property Management Maintenance Services $127,839.47
BARTLEMAN SUSAN M. Manager, Community Recreation $109,993.28
BEAUREGARD ARTHUR Manager, Community Engagement $118,487.81
BOWSER KEVIN Manager, Parks $122,305.01
BROMLEY MALCOLM Director, Community Recreation $137,007.29
BROWN WYNNA Operations Support Coordinator $105,857.93
BURNS DAVID Supervisor, Property Management & Maintenance $106,569.47
CABRAL MOSES Supervisor, By Law Enforcement, Economic Development, Culture & Tourism $105,728.96