It is just much too easy for Saancih to blame others such as the provincial and federal governments, claiming the need for property taxes to escalate at such a rate are due to the cutbacks from the higher powers.
Council takes no blame in spending more than it brings in, but that is mostly because it is much too easy to spend money that doesn’t belong to them and much too easy to get more money from the municipal population via property tax increases. They know not how to curtail spending across the board to keep in line with the funds on hand.
The cost of the separation of garbage program was horrendous by the time one factors in all new garbage trucks (not one but two – one for the black bin and one for the green bin).
We won’t go into the “footprint” that have two trucks on the road rather than one. This from a municipality that is bent on being “green”.
The recent redesign of major roadways to accommodate sporadic bicycle traffic with mixed results as to just how effective they are, is another area where overspending is rampant. I’m not sure as to the effectiveness at this point, but council will continue down this road regardless and then take a look at things. That sounds like the smart way of going about things. The length of time these roadways are closed to vehicle traffic is much too long. Perhaps it’s time to look at privatizing this sort of work which could be done considerably cheaper and faster.
Speaking of garbage, which used to be included in property taxes, we now pay for the bins and must also buy special compostible bags for the food scraps, plus sift and sort through our daily victuals to be careful not to contaminate one bag with contents destined for the other bag. Not to mention the add-ons to our utilities billing regarding sewer charges. It’s always one thing or another that add up to nothing short of taxes or levies imposed on us in addition to the regular property tax bill.
It is simply much too easy to increase taxes rather than control spending.
Mrs. M. Blainey
Saanich