As the new year approaches, many people find themselves reflecting on the past with an eye towards improvement in the future. In other words, it’s time for New Year’s resolutions.
Topping our list is the hope that Hamilton’s decision-makers will practise humility in the future when dealing with taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
After a year of intense public scrutiny, Mayor Bob Bratina, the Hamilton Police Board and Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board all need a good dose of humility for 2012.
The mayor and both local boards need to realize the money they spend comes from the almost thread-bare and tattered pockets of Hamilton taxpayers. And those taxpayers deserve to know how their hard-earned dollars are spent.
By the end of 2011, the school board and police board were making some strides in understanding that openness is not a privilege, but a right, of all Hamiltonians.
After media scrutiny brought the harsh glare of the spotlight onto police and school board expenditures, both organizations took steps to become more transparent.
The police for the first time, debated and approved their operating budget in public. We hope they see their worries about presenting this information in an open forum were unfounded.
They would be wise to remember our justice system, the envy of much of the world, is based on transparency where arrests, trials and verdicts are conducted under public scrutiny.
Public school board officials also seemed to be heading towards greater transparency as they agreed secret pre-meeting sessions should not be the norm and released the costs of the board’s recent legal bills.
After viewing the bills, we hope our public school trustees will remember money for lawyers actually comes from taxpayers and they must go to great efforts, as stewards of those dollars, to ensure cash isn’t flying out the front door without any oversight.
Those who still believe it’s not important to keep track of the legal bills should get their heads out of the sand.
But as the curtain closed on this year of transparency and small doses of humility, the actions of our esteemed mayor are still shadowed in controversy.
The mayor’s handling of what has been coined Peggygate — which will see his chief of staff pocket a $30,000 raise  — has, it appears, left everyone but the mayor shaking their heads. Whether the mayor’s office budget is below past spending practices is immaterial.
The chief of staff’s windfall came from the pockets of taxpayers, many of whom don’t earn $30,000 a year, let alone merit a pay hike quite that hefty.
Mayor Bob, enough of the arrogance — practice some humility. No matter how it is juggled, the money is that of taxpayers.  It deserves a little more respect.
In the future, the mayor would be wise to remember he is no longer a radio talk show host trying to fill dead air on the radio and should think before he speaks.
We also believe the rest of city council could use a dose of humility.
Councillors should remember they were not elected to score points at the expense of their colleagues at the council table, but to represent the interests of their constituents, both individually and collectively.
Starting in January, we would like to see city councillors and the mayor work together to guide Hamilton safely through what could be another difficult year.