Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Massive Tax Increases and Watermetergate updates

Sorry for the lack of updates....I have received some information requested from the District regarding the Watermetergate Scandal....will have a post up soon....in the meantime here some hefty tax increases for you to ponder.....
One commenter suggested that the result of the Watermetergate Scandal would be raises for those managers involved. This is exactly what has happened !! It was confirmed to me at the budget meeting that all District of Tofino managers will get a raise this year !!
While the District talks about Affordable Housing they are doing their best to tax the poor and those on fixed incomes right out of town !!

2015-2019 Financial Plan Bylaw
The 2015- 2019 financial plan includes the following property taxation increases:


2015

8%

2016

8%

2017

2%

2018


2%

2019


2%

22% over a five year span.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

This can only be the result of poor financial planning.Glad I moved to Port Alberni.

Anonymous said...

Wallin and Duffy should have got appointed to Tofino . Not only would they have avoided investigation and suspension but they would have got a raise .

Anonymous said...

If a tax increase doesn't affect your tax exempted garden, it don't matter when you burn yet another $42,000 of our taxes on affordable housing studies & consultants

Ralph Tieleman said...

These are dark days indeed.

Red Green said...

Ralph - what does the Mayor say about all this? Surely she can't be happy! Or am I too optimistic?

Doug Sloman said...

This is total bullsh** I find this tax increase repugnant after Tofino residents basically "subsidized" local resorts water bills for the last 10 years! And a pay raise for all District managers for doing a poor job? What ever happened to accountability?

Anonymous said...

catch 22 is being able to find 'managers' that could and would do a better job and, who wants to live out here. More catch 22 is then the district would be faced with the learning curve of those new managers and could face even worse mistakes than those we've had happen.
It is not a pretty predicament for the town to be in.
I guess those employees needed the raises to pay their water bills.

Ralph Tieleman said...

I guess five years is too short a learning curve for some current managers ?

Anonymous said...

I believe it is Time for the TBG to start paying property tax. Check out the web site which lists the gardens, eco lodge and cafe all on the same site. "Stay at the lodge and get free admission to the gardens." Sounds like this is treated like one large business all with the same phone number, email and web site. Tickets for the food and wine festival are at $120 this year. Surely this would push them out of non profit unless the revenue gets posted to one of the other businesses. Maybe it is time to lead by example? Just saying....

john Fraser said...

I am just wondering why the tax payers must pay back money that the
district did not collect but apparently also did not use.
We are not allowed to operate in a deficit.

Anonymous said...

" There was no loss of revenue "

Anonymous said...

Tofino, home of never ending studies and never ending lack of action. Meanwhile, we struggling tax payers, or those just trying to live and grow here, just can't make it. While the water might be part of the big tax increase, I was also told that the big hotel tax dollars was used to cover staff costs but now doesn't. Not sure what staff that means but obviously that will now be covered through taxation. I wish we would just slow down and figure it out. We can't keep going like this! A five year family of 4.

Ralph Tieleman said...

"never ending lack of action"
There was a panic by the Eco-Weenies to get the Weeper back to Tofino but she just lays lifeless by the Community Hall.

Anonymous said...

What a f*cking disaster PARKING in this town.Visitors who want to spend money and go have lunch can't find any parking spots.When are these district cl_wns gonna take care of this.START BUILDING PARKING LOTS FOR FCK SAKES

WHERE ARE ALL THE HIGHER LEARNING TOURIST GONNA PARK ????

Ralph Tieleman said...

They are supposed to use the 2 blocks of bike lanes and leave their cars somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

This place is just too stupid for words.Massive parking shortage and the dots answer is; LET'S TURN PARKING SPOTS INTO AWARD WINNING PLANTER POTS 'CAUSE MAYBE THEY WILL COME ON BIKES'

"it is good for our green reputation"

F_CKING ID_OTS (congrats on your raise)

Anonymous said...

It is very sad when people who lived here for many years and consider Tofino their home have to leave because the taxes and living expenses have simply become unaffordable. When only a few rich and famous pop in once in a while I wonder how that will sustain this place and who is going to do the work around here?
BTW, the people who so royally messed up the water bills definitely do not deserve a raise! It is a scandal that the taxpayer has to make up for the resorts not paying for their water usage. I remember Jacqueline Windt telling us a few years ago that we were subsidizing the resorts with our high water bills but nobody listened then. Why did nobody at the district take her serious at the time?

Anonymous said...

22% over 5 years, are they totally insane? We can barely manage the property taxes now. Instead of wasting money on fancy beautification projects, salary increases, endless consulting that makes me wonder if anybody at the district does anything themselves anymore, please concentrate on the essentials. Make the big businesses pay their share and their true water bills. Instead of focusing on tourism focus on the residents of Tofino for a change who pay your salaries! Please keep the costs down!