Guest Blogger here,
I can't say I'm surprised the the City administration is trying to find new and lucrative ways to take more money out of the local tax payer. And it is in a way that councilors going into an election year can take to the public and flaunt as a model of taxation used elsewhere. Just because Edmonton's council went with a dedicated tax levy for roads doesn't mean our city needs to do the same. How can Regina put away more money for roads then we do? It's simple PRIORITIZE!!!!! Now had Administration said they want Council to dedicate an increased portion of taxes, what every that may be, to roads and I would be in favor of that. But to start piecemealing tax increases isn't going to get us where we need to be. First it was show removal, then it was garbage/recycling, the Local improvement levies, now roads. What's next a special levy to cover Councillors wage increases? If council agrees to this concept I say come election time we will all be singing "hit the road Jack and don't you come back, no more, no more, no more." and that goes for the lot of them.
Get to work council and find us some true savings and spend our tax dollars where we need it most in basic civic services not the filly handouts and wasteful expenditures.
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What exactly are the "filly" (I assume you mean frilly rather than a young female horse) handouts and wasteful expenditures? Please elaborate rather than just throwing out accusations. And for the benefit of everyone that reads this blog it might be useful if you backed your statements up with some facts and information.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that Regina's higher spending on road repair is because they have prioritized, and road repair comes out somewhere higher on their list. Sure, that's reasonable.
ReplyDeleteSaskatoon has prioritized too, and some different things have shown up on our list. Such as affordable housing. The City of Regina isn't involved in affordable housing. Nor are most municipalities in the country. I believe the City of Saskatoon has one of the most aggressive affordable housing strategies in the Canada, despite the continued and acute need for it (which underline the importance of the City being in the affordable housing game).
So yes, it certainly comes down to prioritization. Our Council has set some different priorities that you might not agree with (that's fair).
I do personally think that spending on road repair needs to be increased (even if potholes and traffic aren't top of mind for me). But people who lobby ad nauseum for more pavement, pavement, and pavement often miss the crux of what good, strategic, well-rounded city-building is. City building involves more than asphalt and garbage pickup. It involves all the strategies, planning, programs, initiatives, and projects necessary to create an economically, socially, culturally, and physically healthy and thriving city.
So yeah, let's find more funding for road repair! But let's not take this potentially destructive 'trim the fat/clean house' approach to achieve it at the expense of other worthwhile initiatives.
Operating, planning, and building a city is a tricky and complicated thing. Rarely are there any easy answers.
- An Engaged Resident
To Anon 5:59
ReplyDeleteRiver Landing, Multi-million dollar costs with no as of yet rate payers costing over a million a year. $500,000 lights on a bridge that will be falling in the river any time soon. A failed transit system that is both inefficient and costly. Huge wage increases to part time Councilors(last time I checked maybe one or two don't have another job). An art gallery that started out at $4 million and will now cost the ratepayer $40M. Should I go on.