Joking that he “lost money on that bet” as no one spoke up at a public meeting regarding Midland’s upcoming 2025 budget, Mayor Bill Gordon later noted that nearly 500 residents did provide input through the budget survey.
In anticipation of the upcoming three days of budget deliberations, a public meeting was scheduled for the recent regular meeting of council. A dozen attendees sat in the audience as preliminary council agenda items were addressed one by one.
Gordon began with casual introductions to four public meetings in the agenda, starting “with the most important one which I think we probably have folks in the house for,” being the 2025 budget.
Expecting attendance at the podium, Gordon told the crowd that council “are effectively all ears and pens.” He added, “I’m so happy that there’s people here this time; we had nobody last year – sorry, one drunk guy came in.”
While laying out the rules but playfully reiterating that no one would be kicked out for doubling on another’s comments or speaking to a previously submitted written comment, Gordon asked if any one would like to approach the podium.
One audience member cleared their throat in the silence. Laughter followed.
“Nobody’s here for the budget meeting?” asked Gordon to further laughter. “Okay. I’m a little depressed because I really was optimistic, because literally last year somebody staggered in by accident."
After learning no one had registered online, he said: “I thought this was going to be the year.”
“Anybody want to take a stab at it now that you’re thinking about it? Budget?” Gordon prompted to more laughs.
"Taxes are going up, I guarantee you that. You want any say, (or) just trust us to spend your tax dollars wisely?”
When no one spoke up, Gordon said, “Thank you for that vote of confidence.”
In fact, none of the attendees spoke to any of the four public meetings which surprised Gordon, who admitted, “I lost money on that bet.”
Many filed out shortly after the public meetings concluded.
After the meeting, MidlandToday asked Gordon what the benefit was of having residents contribute to annual budget discussions.
“I can take some solace in the fact that we had a record number of respondents to our budget survey this year,” said Gordon. “Surveys typically have low uptake, so we really did get good feedback and a good number of respondents; almost 500.”
Admitting that public meetings could sometimes be intimidating at the podium and that greater attendance was usually reserved when meetings involved neighbours surrounding a contentious matter, as seen with the recent Yonge Street development attendance, Gordon said that providing questions and comments online was a better option for some.
“I jokingly said (during tonight’s meeting): it’s either a sign of confidence and endorsement that there’s enough good eggs on council that we’re managing expenses as best we can, and we’re doing a good job explaining it throughout the year leading up to this,” said Gordon, “or it’s just complete apathy and people just figure we’re going to do whatever we want anyway so why talk to us. I’m hoping it’s not the latter.”
Information on the 2025 draft budget is available on the town website, with Gordon encouraging residents to bring their comments and concerns through the portal for finance staff to receive and properly address.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
