As I continue with my “keeping it real” posts about the job that all candidates are seeking for the next four years I have thoughts to share about this slogan. I hear it every election cycle: “run the municipality like a business.” I get the appeal, but it misses something important. A business chooses its customers. A municipality doesn’t get to say no to residents who can’t pay, who need extra support, or whose needs aren’t profitable to serve. We don’t get to walk away from a money-losing product line if that “product line” is snow clearing on a low traffic street, or accessible transit for someone who has no other way to get to a doctor’s appointment.
A business optimizes revenues and profit for shareholders or owners. A municipality answers to everyone, including the people who never show up to vote and the neighbours two decades from now who’ll live with the decisions we make today.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be disciplined. Every dollar in our budgets is a dollar a resident earned and handed over in trust, and I take that seriously. Fiscal responsibility matters. But “run it like a business” is a soundbite, not a strategy, and it quietly excuses leaders from the harder job: balancing efficiency with fairness, and short term savings with long term obligations we can’t walk away from.
Midland deserves a council that’s careful with money and honest that governing a municipality well is a very different job than running a company or small business. Both take discipline. Only one has a mandate and legal responsibilty to serve everyone regarless of ability to pay.
Talk to the candidates to probe their understanding of the job that they are asking you to hire them for.
Discover more from RE-ELECT BILL GORDON - MAYOR
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