You may have heard the saying, "May you live in interesting times."  Rarely has this phrase seemed more appropriate than it does now. In the past months, economic events have dominated the world stage and their impact has been broadly felt in cities and communities across Canada. 

As a city, Mississauga is better placed than many, with our diverse business base of almost 56,000 businesses.  Our City is home to 59 Fortune 500 Canadian Head offices, 1,300 multinational firms and a highly-educated employee base of 416,000 people.  Our diverse business base means that if any one sector experiences difficulty, our business economy is more able to balance the negative effects.

Like other cities, we are being asked to do more with limited budgets, amid increasing financial pressures. Our residents want us to ease gridlock and build more transit, to fix our aging infrastructure, and to build a city for the 21^st century - all while managing our property tax rate and finding cost savings.  Essentially, we are being asked to grow and to shrink at the same time.  It's a difficult balancing act.

Our 2009-2010 Business Plan and Budget

One of the ways we balance our competing priorities is through rigorous planning and budgeting. Our 2009-2010 Business Plan and Budget will allow us to continue our legacy of strong leadership and excellence in financial planning.  I am pleased to say that our residents and their ideas were the main drivers of the Business Plan. The plan clearly outlines what services the City offers, how much services cost, and why they are needed.  More importantly, it outlines the commitment of Council and staff to listen to the needs of our residents to ensure that your priorities are met.  I encourage you to review the 2009-2010 Business Plan and Budget at http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/cityhall/budgetbook.

Finding Efficiencies and Internal Savings

As City Manager, I believe it is more important than ever for the City to continue to review our internal processes and programs with the goal of finding more ways to improve our efficiency and contain costs. Our e3 program - which stands for economy, efficiency and effectiveness - acts as an internal performance audit of all city programs and services. This program is highly effective in helping us evaluate the services we deliver to residents to ensure that they deliver strong value for your tax dollar.

We have also created an employee challenge program called 'my idea' which encourages employees to submit ideas to generate revenue or improve efficiency.  This one-time program generated over 400 ideas and over $160,000 in annual savings. 

Our Future Priorities

Like other cities, we face a number of funding challenges as revenue sources slow down and our City continues to grow.  It is no longer practical for cities to rely on the property tax as the sole funding source for local public services and capital infrastructure.  We will continue to build upon the strong partnerships we have created and work together to lobby the provincial and federal governments to address funding shortfalls where they exist.  

In recent months, I have had the pleasure of speaking with a number of Mississauga groups, associations and rotary clubs.  A number of residents have asked me how the current economic downturn will affect our future plans to Build a City for the 21^st Century.  I think it is important to assure you that while the economy will not cause us to change our priorities, it may, however, slow the speed at which we implement these changes. Now more than ever, we need to be patient with the pace of change. 

I am a firm believer that good preparation and planning is vital to our future success.  On behalf of the staff, I want to assure you that the City of Mississauga will continue to do its part to be stringent and prudent managers of your tax dollar while delivering the high-quality services that you demand.  

As always, I look forward to your questions or comments.  You can always contact me by e-mail at city.manager@mississauga.ca, by phone at 905-896-5550, or by fax at 905-615-3376.