Mayoral candidate Matt Marchand discussed his fiscal responsibility plan with reporters outside Adventure Bay Family Water Park in Windsor, September 6, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.Mayoral candidate Matt Marchand discussed his fiscal responsibility plan with reporters outside Adventure Bay Family Water Park in Windsor, September 6, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
Windsor

Candidate lays out plan for fiscal responsibility

A candidate for mayor in Windsor is promising that he will ensure the city's money is spent wisely if elected.

Matt Marchand, who has emerged as the strongest challenger to incumbent Drew Dilkens in the upcoming October election, unveiled the fiscal responsibility plank of his election platform Thursday outside Adventure Bay Family Water Park. The three-point plan includes independent review of any capital projects or sports tourism initiatives, due diligence for all City Hall contracts and requests-for-proposals (RFPs) ,and an independent auditor general to review purchasing by-laws and policies for potential city contracts.

Marchand said the water park and aquatic centre are a prime example of why these checks-and-balances are needed.

"[Adventure Bay] is losing $3 million to $3.5 million a year, and Essex taxpayers are on pace to pay for this facility twice over the next 20 years," said Marchand.

Another point of contention, according to Marchand, is the ongoing sponsorship by the city of Windsor of the Detroit Grand Prix. The city has been a sponsor of the popular auto race for about a decade, but Marchand said he's not seeing much of a benefit to the city by spending at least $400,000 in total to sponsor the event.

Marchand said if he is elected Windsor's next mayor, he would work to put an independent auditor general in place and have these new procedures ready to go within 100 days. He acknowledged there would be a cost for this plan, but he said if something like this was on the books earlier, the city would have saved a lot of money.

"We're in a spot right now where we're paying for the Grand Prix," said Marchand. "We're in a spot right now where we're paying another $70 million for this facility. Had we spent some money up front for some cost-benefit analysis, it would have saved us a lot more money downstream."

The municipal election is October 22. Marchand and Dilkens will participate in a mayoral debate sponsored by the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, on October 10 at the Fogolar Furlan Club.

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