To the Editor:

Re: Letter to the Editor, City may be on financial collision course (August 11, 2010).

Determining fact from fiction can be a daunting process.  It has been my experience that the people of Oshawa have very open minds that close very quickly when one attempts to deliberately lead them down a garden path. 
One such attempt is the assault on well-publicized and documented facts presented by Mr. Bird in his aforementioned letter to the editor.  To clear the record, the city’s current debt position is roughly $92 million, a far cry from Mr. Bird’s pronouncement of $150 million.  Further, the City Hall downsizing and energy retrofit project was $15.4 million, not $20 million.  The project did not go over budget and saves Oshawa taxpayers roughly $1 million a year.  In fact, Oshawa Council paid for this project through reserves, avoiding the need to incur further debentures.  While I find Mr. Bird’s concerns for the city’s finances ironic (considering he is directly associated with a group whom are currently attempting to sue Oshawa taxpayers), I will allow Mr. Bird a bit of leeway as he is a newer resident to this city. 
I fear Mr. Bird may have gotten his facts from someone who clearly should be in the know.  A president of a supposed local ratepayers’ group who is also a current candidate for local council, was much more boisterous about our city’s financial position in a previous story in the Oshawa Express.  Unfortunately, this individual has been corrected too many times to count, by both elected officials and city staff.  While I can attest to his ability to understand fact from fiction, it appears that when it comes to furthering political ambitions, facts may be harder to sell for some than fiction.   

Yours truly,

John Gray
Mayor