We wish to express our disappointment with council’s failure to deal with the affordability of living in Saanich. Saanich has for years adopted annual budgets with residential and commercial tax rates well above the inflation rate which is simply not sustainable and must stop. You, the council, have become part of the affordability problem.
We ask you to reconsider Coun. Karen Harper’s motion to start with a target reflective of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We also believe that council needs to consider Mayor Richard Atwell’s suggestion to prioritize capital projects and include this in the budget deliberations.
During the committee of the whole debate regarding budget guidelines for 2019 we were very disappointed to see that council members voted to go with the status quo which Coun. Colin Plant freely acknowledged has historically failed in the past. So why would our council want to do the same thing again?
While council may want to, the Employers Health Tax cannot be simply dismissed as it impacts the affordability of living in Saanich. Mayor Atwell seemed to get this but his pleas for a strong statement to the provincial government fell on deaf ears with the rest of the council. Whether it is set out as a separate line item or not, it still hits the bottom line of the tax bill for every homeowner and landlord in Saanich. This cost will filter down to the renters as well, as the landlords will pass the costs through in increased rent.
We were surprised that Coun. Fred Haynes, who talked about affordability routinely in the past, seems to support aspects of the Employers Health Tax suggesting that Saanich’s report can be used to educate the public. While he stressed what families and individuals can save, he seemed to fail to grasp the impact on the less fortunate Saanich residents who have been receiving health premium assistance. Under the health premium assistance plan, people of limited means were not paying a health premium every month. Now these people face an increase in their property taxes or rent. So who is this tax helping again?
On the subject of the budget guidelines for staff, we agree with Harper and Atwell that the Consumer Price Index is a relevant starting point for considering a budget increase. We support Coun. Harper’s motion that we can start with a low-target budget and then see what staff can accomplish within those guidelines.
The current process of starting with a “wish list” budget by staff is doomed to failure. Council asks staff to provide a budget with very little direction and then asks them to immediately find reductions. This in the past has led to ridiculous reduction scenario discussions, such as the elimination of the Christmas decorations at city hall, as if this would have some meaningful impact on the overall budget numbers.
Council is extremely concerned about the $1.78 million tax increase due to the Employers Health Tax, and rightly so. At the same time they will not consider controlling the capital budget that, by way of example, contains a budgeted capital expenditure of $5 million in 2019 and a further $8 million in 2020 for some “complete streets” projects. We do not hear anyone suggesting that we put off required infrastructure repair only that we begin to prioritize all projects. If you want to talk sustainability, there is only so much money available from the Saanich taxpayer so council must start prioritizing.
Laurie and Bruce Kennedy
Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria