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02:28 - 09.10.06
Is it crunchable, my Precious?
Productive day today, dear diary. My youngest headed off with his brothers for their first Thanksgiving dinner at their Dad's family gathering. That left me with an uninterrupted span of time to play with. I had scanned the material I had picked up Friday at City Hall for my assignment, so my brain was buzzing with all sorts of numerical analyses. Housework got done without even noticing what I was doing as a result.

Yesterday, my oldest son had managed to find a number of interim positions that would tide him over financially and would fit in with the work schedule he already has. He hadn't had time to personalize his applications for each one, so I did that then faxed or emailed them all off to the prospective employers. My son was a bit embarrassed about me taking on the responsibility, but it isn't that difficult a task in terms of thinking. Since my mind was still on various formulae and calculations - number crunching - the mechanical aspect of sending off mega resumes didn't seem like a chore at all. Usually when I need to let my brain operate without the ego interfering, I distract that layer of thought with puzzles or games like Mah Jong. The housework and job applications were a novelty in a weird sort of way.

The odd thing about the one document from dity hall was how difficult it was to come by this year. Usually the census report is ready by the first or second week in September. It's release is usually followed by a significant amount of newspaper analysis of the impacts the data has for community development and planning. This year it wasn't until I emailed toward the end of the month that it was even acknowledged that it had been produced. On the online store website all that was mentioned was the 2005 report and the fact that it was temporarily available. After I had received a response telling me that it wasn't being offered on-line but that I could pick it up at a different department than the one that normally handles it, I checked the website again. The year of the document had been changed to 2006 but it was still rated as unavailable. Hmmm. Left it for another week knowing the assignment I wanted it for wouldn't be activated until then. When I called this week the directions for finding the office holding the publication were given but there was still some hesitation about releasing it - or at least that is how I read it. I have worked with the city hall staff for decades so the behaviour was just too unusual to ignore. When I got to the office where I was told I could pick it up, it seemed the clerk had been told that I would be dropping by. There was only one copy of the report on the shelf and I had to pay by cash. Also not normal. Elections Canada makes us use our charge card between events so it was fortunate that I had already decided that I wanted to spend my own money so that it would be mine to write in the margins or doodle on as I wished. As always it is very well done so it isn't the quality of the data that is at issue. I can't cipher that one at all.

Our operating budgets for elections are set based on the number of residents we have in our districts. Elections Canada calculates those numbers based on the once-every-five-years Federal Census. That works fine for communities experiencing no growth or low growth that is mostly driven by internal population increases. Births mostly. Using that yardstick, Elections Canada indicated that my budget is based on a population of 109,339. However,that yardstick is flawed when it is applied to an electoral district like mine, where the only constant is very rapid growth. It has always been that way since the day I started 10 years ago. Per the City Census Report, the actual population in the electoral district as of April 2006 was 131,648. That is a difference of 22,309 persons.

In addition, although the average growth rate for the entire City of Calgary was 3.73%, the growth rate for my communities averaged 34%, with the mean growth per community coming in at 11.66%. If that mean growth of 11.66% continues until April of 2007, then at least an additional 13,170 people will move into my ED for a budget deficit of 35,479 residents, based on EC's population estimate. In actual fact the population will be closer to 144,818 residents by April 2007, based on the growth realized over the past year projected on into 2007. Spent about three hours building a spreadsheet, community by community broken down in to age groupings, demonstrating the growth between 2005 and 2006. Then I spent another hour writing the request for the budget to be updated to reflect the real numbers instead of the budget I was forced to try and make work lst election. Remeber how difficult that made my job, dear diary. I don't want to spend a day or two for the last two pay periods begging head office for enough funds to pay my staff. I also want enough funds so I can offer wages that reflect the realities of this city's job market. I was just sending that missive off when my youngest arrived home. Watched the news and now I think I need some sleep. Good night dear diary.

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