June 30, 2003
It can sometimes be difficult to determine if one is a "senior" or not. Is it a matter of age, or is it determined by the receipt of a pension? Often, as I have found, it’s a matter of the person in front of you. If the Burger King cashier thinks you’re old, then you get a cheaper rate on your coffee and fries. If the Go bus operator thinks you’re a senior, you pay half price. Sometimes, however, such issues can become far more serious for me. As, for example, with my realty taxes.
I have complained to the City of Oshawa in the past about their realty tax due dates. Their due dates always fall on the last day of the month. My Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension is deposited into my bank account on the first day of each month, which also is known to the Oshawa bureaucrats as the "first day of default", thus resulting in a penalty being charged to me. It is particularly aggravating when I issue a series of post-dated cheques to pay my taxes. Each and every cheque is dated on the first day of the month, as I dare not date them the day before in case the City actually gets off its butt and deposits the cheque promptly. Thus, I condemn myself to having to pay penalties each and every time, for what I perceive as being no fault of my own.
In an absolutely stunning reply from the Oshawa Revenue boss to, a letter I wrote to my Councillor a while ago, it was made clear to me that the selection of due dates is "traditional", and it was rather obliquely suggested that I should learn to handle my affairs in a more efficient manner.
The Canada Pension Plan is apparently paid on the last day of each month, and one can only assume that pensions other than CPP are considered by Oshawa to be "unofficial," and thus undeserving of consideration.
The natural gas utility Enbridge, however, takes a much more enlightened approach to its older customers. When I switched to natural gas from oil last year, I phoned them and asked if my "due date" could be adjusted to the first week of each month. I was told that, as a pension recipient, I qualified as a "golden age service member," and if I consistently paid my bill at the same time each month, I would never be penalized. And so it has been. On the last day of each month, I pull out all my bills and write up and mail the payment cheques, all dated for the first working day of the next month, (usually the next day). Enbridge has always been paid regularly. They have never charged me anything in penalties regardless of the "due date," and although Enbridge is for all practical purposes a monopoly, it has thus earned my undying support and loyalty.
What a contrast with the City of Oshawa, which seems to have no scruples whatsoever about enhancing its revenues at the expense of those of us whose income arrives on the first day of each month, instead of on the last day.
CUPE Local 79
A Notice of Motion was due to be discussed at the June 24th General Meeting "To approve a campaign budget for the 2003 municipal elections in the amount of $105,000 to be cost-shared with CUPE National."
As CUPE National’s money comes from per-capita dues paid by all CUPE members, including the members of Local 79, it’s a safe bet that the Local’s approximately 20,000 members will be paying some $5.25 each for a political campaign to which they may be opposed.
In the meantime, it is taking so long to settle grievances that the system is a bad joke, and people still contact me to this day asking for advice, not just on how to handle management, but more importantly on how to get the union to actually do the job all these dues payments are supposed to guarantee.
Not that the leftist elite infesting the upper echelons of CUPE and the rest of the labour movement gives a damn…
Mortgage rates
I have just arranged to early-renew my mortgage for a period of 7 years at a rate of 5.1%, even though the penalty will cause me some grief for a while. Instead of paying at 5.85% for another 3 years before having to renew, (which involves the "big question mark" as to what interest rates will be then), I now have 7 years at 5.1% before the "big question mark", and my balance at the end of the 7 years will be so low that I seriously won’t care about the "big question mark" anyway.
All I have to do now is live long enough to enjoy the benefits! If you have a mortgage, this is a great time to check out your options.
Jeff Goodall worked for the Metro Treasury and City Finance Departments for 25 years, and served as a member of the CUPE Local 79 Executive Board for 14 of those years.