Here is a good example of why taxes are going up. Study after study,consultant after consultant about housing issues.This is not rocket science.If you want to run a logging camp you need somewhere for the loggers to sleep and eat. If you want to have a business in Tofino you need to budget for staff accommodation in your business plan.The District of Tofino has spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on useless initiatives for affordable housing.How about an initiative to reduce taxes and water rates for those that are already here????? A 22 percent tax hike over 5 years flies in the face of affordable housing as it makes it unaffordable for those on fixed or lower incomes.Expect rents for long term residents to go up and expect even more people turning units into vacation rentals to make ends meet.
Click here for 2015 Budget Items
"feasibility study for indoor sports facility".....$25,000.....
ReplyDeleteYep, and then another $50,000 in 2016 for the "design".
Centennial Park Basketball Court 9,500 TRC Restricted Revenue.......... Did anyone ask the local residents there if they wanted to listen to basketballs thump-thump-thumping across the street, at all hours.
ReplyDeleteTaxes compound year after year.
ReplyDeleteThose extras should have been put in as levies with a time line so that they do not become part of the tax base for a property..... that is if they were justifiable in the first place.
You don't need to have a $25,000 study to find out that an indoor sports facility is expensive. You already know that there are not going to be enough users willing to pay to support it.
You already know how much it costs to heat and light a space like the community hall.
Staff should be able to figure that out during office time as part of their job.
It is in fact what they are being paid to do. The design phase of 50 grand is a joke except it is part of the taxes we'll be paying for something the town cannot justify having. We don't even have a sewer treatment plant paid for.
It's insane. Spend, spend, spend .......and it seems that there's no thought being given to where in heck all this money is going to come from.
ReplyDeleteIf in doubt, simply "refer it to staff" and let them start spending money on creating pages of reports, research, plans, proposals, and studies-- or maybe just rewrite the King James version of the bible!
Mayor and council were elected to govern, but it seems like they're all afraid to say that horrible word.....NO!! (We can't afford it, there's no money!!) because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or seem politically right wing or left wing or centrist or not green enough or not socially sensitive enough or too restrictive or too liberal or...... (it goes on and on).
C'mon council.....GOVERN! Don't just sit there and try to appease every opinion and then pass the responsibility off to staff or consultants or committees or agencies.
Shoot the puck! You'll score or you won't, and since this is Canada you won't be executed if you get it wrong.
This wasting of tax money to simply try to get every decision exactly correct is hopeless. You'll never do it. Think "cheapskate", and act the same way with our tax dollars.
Water utility rate review: 8500
ReplyDeleteSewer utility rate review 18890
feasibility study for sports facility...25,000! nothing gets done.
Hey everyone don't forget that ice rink group that wants your tax dollars for a project maybe 30 people in town maybe use a small percentage of the year. Start saying no NOW to more taxes.
ReplyDeleteThat was brought to you by a paid lobbyist.
The staff are not doing their jobs if they cannot do budgets for projects in their areas of expertise.
What they can't do that?
Then they should not be working for the district.
Consumer prices in Canada rose 0.8 per cent in the 12-month period that ended in March, the lowest pace of gain since late 2013.
ReplyDeleteStatistics Canada said much of the slowdown was attributed to cheap prices for energy products like gasoline. If energy is stripped out, the inflation rate jumps to 2.2 per cent.
So why do we have a tax hike 10 times the rate of inflation ?
Good question. We now have a paid fire chief.Another bylaw officer.More consultants....raises for existing staff...water upgrades ..... Very little expansion of the tax base as development is highly discouraged.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know just how much of our tax dollars has been doled out to these 'consulting' firms over the last 10 yrs. seems like a shit-load of cash! Study after goddamn study.
ReplyDelete