Jeff Burgar

Last week, it was shocking news, to a few anyway, that High Prairie town council managed to let about $400,000 slip through their fingers.

For the good folks of High Prairie, that is roughly $300 to $400 per household that has “sort of” disappeared.

“Sort of” because in fact, the money was never collected in the first place. The money came in the form of lower water and sewer rates to users.
Businesses were charged less last year and this year. They saved.

Maybe this is not be a big deal all by itself. But there is more to the story.

As we said last week, one big deal was in the fact council voted to not know what the impact of lower water and sewer rates would be. High Prairie’s mayor wanted to know the numbers. Other councillors, like sheep following a leader over a cliff, let themselves be led astray by then town manager Keli Tamaklo. Some were quite willing to do this. It was a great opportunity to make the mayor look bad.

Meanwhile, of course, the best interests of taxpayers and citizens in High Prairie were ignored.

There is more.

As this business wore on over months, water and sewer rates were adjusted. Business rates were lowered. Then, for some reason nobody knows, the amount of money the water and sewer services would bring in to town coffers was, unfathomably, assumed to be higher, much much higher, than what it had always raised! In total, about $400,000 more!

Ah, you say, the steely-eyed brain trust called councillors must have caught this in the monthly financial statements. Or, they must have caught this in the budget numbers estimated for this year.

Sorry. That’s a no. And another nope.

And if you have more questions, nope, nope, nope!

The information was there, if anybody wanted to look. Of course, council had many more important things to look after. We won’t belittle most of those efforts. As far as we are concerned, any effort is important if it is moving a community forward.

That said, arguing over chairmanship rotation at meetings is a ludicrous waste of time. It’s nothing more than political grandstanding by some silly councillors. If they had spent one one-hundredth of the time reading the town financial statements that they spent scheming and conniving over the rotation foolishness, High Prairie would not have this situation. Maybe.

Because it has to be said, we don’t always elect councillors for their smarts or dedication to community. So, all too often we end up with people who really, and sadly, cannot trouble themselves to read a financial statement. Financial statements are not rocket science. But they do take a few moments of work. Often, they raise boring, sleepy and eye glazing questions. Those questions still need to be asked by councillors if they are doing their job.

High Prairie’s water and sewer business isn’t glamorous, sexy or exciting. The roughly $400,000 amount involved sure is, don’t you think?