Tag Archives: City Councillors

Don’t need our money? Lower taxes!

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You won’t find their work in any art gallery, but these politicians are among the most talented artists around.

Some city councillors have turned wasting tax dollars into an art form of late. A tour de force was on display Wednesday when the executive policy committee voted to give $10,000 to help install a large artwork at the University of Manitoba.

The 15-panel work was removed from a wall at the old Winnipeg airport terminal and will be erected on the exterior of the Max Bell Centre.

Plenty of air travellers familiar with Eli Bornstein’s work think it’s pretty ugly, but that’s irrelevant. This move has nothing to do with the City of Winnipeg. The city’s own administrators recommended denying the U of M’s request, but that didn’t stop a majority of EPC members from voting to blow your hard-earned tax dollars on the project.

We can only hope the grant application will be turned down when city council as a whole votes on it.

Earlier this month two members of the city centre community committee voted to give $100 each from their ward budgets to help cover the costs of a group that had gathered outside the Winnipeg Remand Centre to sing Christmas carols for inmates. The grant application listed bus tickets among the costs of the event.

Two hundred dollars might not be a lot, but using city funds to cover the transportation costs of people who serenaded inmates is particularly galling considering a bus fare hike took effect that same week.

What a masterpiece of mindless spending.

Still on the subject of bus fares, city hall’s governance committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie’s idea to give $3,000 from his ward allowance to a women’s shelter to pay for bus fare.

While this is no doubt a worthy cause, the fact is it’s not up to city councillors to throw public funds at whatever they feel like.

The next time councillors want to spend money on something the city has no business in, they should reach for their own wallets. City funds should be spent on core services like road repair and public safety. If councillors have money to spare, then clearly our taxes should be reduced.

These funds belong to the public and councillors shouldn’t spend it on whatever issues tickle their fancy.

It’s really not that complicated. We shouldn’t have to paint them a picture.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/01/14/ed-dont-need-our-money-lower-taxes

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Critics call for stadium time out

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A city councillor and tax watchdog group say a no-huddle offence is no way to proceed with a revised football stadium plan that will put taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.

The city, provincial government and Winnipeg Blue Bombers are expected to announce Monday how they will finance and secure construction of the CFL team’s new home at the University of Manitoba.

City councillors will then have just under two days to digest the details before they vote on it at the final council meeting of the year Wednesday.

Both Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge) and Canadian Taxpayers Federation prairie director Colin Craig said Sunday they fear that’s far too little time to examine the deal.

“I think council should be informed when decisions are this big,” Gerbasi said. “This is multi-million dollars, so we should have enough time with all the information before we make a decision. I’m not going to have time to really hear from my constituents on this.”

It’s expected city hall will throw in $7 million, and will sell the Polo Park site of Canad Inns Stadium — which generates no property tax — for commercial and residential redevelopment in order to funnel tax revenue into municipal and provincial coffers. The parties have agreed to a maximum cost of about $190 million, which the Manitoba government will largely pay for up front, and the Bombers will be on the hook to repay the province $70 million over the course of a few decades.

“We would like some honesty in this process,” Craig said. “At the very least, couldn’t they announce the decision and then wait a month so that people can digest it and come to an open house and provide feedback, instead of simply pushing it through right before Christmas?”

The 33,000-seat facility, which will also be used by the U of M Bisons football program, will rise on what has only been an excavated hole since plans involving David Asper’s Creswin Properties stalled.

A municipal source said last week that it appeared Creswin will no longer be directly involved, adding Asper is almost certain to receive compensation.

Craig has his doubts about the new figures.

“They told us the last maximum cost was $115 million, so I’m not convinced they’ll live up to this promise,” he said. “We’ve been pushing for holding a referendum on the project, because it does impact taxpayers so much.”

Bombers fan Ken Enns said he supports the new deal and isn’t overly worried about the Bombers’ potential debt load.

“It worries me mildly but it all comes down to how good the management is,” he said. “I think they’ll be able to pay it off if they handle it well.”

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Sarnia property taxes up 1.8% in 2010

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Property taxes in Sarnia, Ont., will go up 1.8 per cent in 2010, according to the new budget set by city councillors at a meeting Tuesday night.

The $132-million budget also includes a one-time one per cent levy to complete capital projects worth $20.4 million.

Overall, “it’s a restraint budget” that cuts services “in very subtle ways,” said Coun. Mike Kelch.

“I don’t think it’s really going to [have an] impact,” Kelch said. “I don’t think people will say ‘Oh, I really notice that.’”

The property tax increase will translate to $15 for a home assessed at $100,000, the budget said.

That’s “a very modest tax increase,” Mayor Mike Bradley said, adding it will help pay for “a massive infrastructure investment in the community” in 2008 and 2009.

“So that in turn creates jobs, renews the community and gives us a real strong way to exit the recession,” Bradley said.

The city released its 228-page draft budget on Oct. 26. It proposed a property tax hike of 2.75 per cent, which was whittled down to 1.8 per cent during a series of discussions that ended Tuesday night.

Sarnia’s transit department will see its own increase, as the cost of a bus ride jumps to $2.25 from $2.00.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2009/12/02/sarnia-2010-property-tax-091202.html#ixzz0ig5iN9Pr

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Toronto strike savings yield property tax break

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The savings recouped from Toronto’s civic workers strike will likely be put towards property tax bills next year instead of being mailed out as rebates to city residents.
The city’s executive committee recommended Monday that the estimated $33.2 million saved in the summer work stoppage be applied to next year’s operating budget.
Some city councillors had pushed for an immediate rebate.
But the city has estimated the cost of issuing and administering rebate cheques at somewhere between $2 million and $3 million.
Mayor David Miller said Monday that reflecting those savings in property tax bills is “the fairest and most efficient way” to return the money to Torontonians.
The proposal is expected to save taxpayers around 2.8 per cent on their tax bills — about $36 million — next year.
But Miller wouldn’t say if property taxes will increase in 2010, or by how much. While there are no official figures out, the city is facing a significant budget shortfall next year.
Council will vote on the executive committee’s recommendation later this month.
The 39-day strike by about 30,000 municipal employees left most residents of Canada’s largest city with no residential garbage or recycling collection. City-run daycares and summer day camps were closed, along with swimming pools and most other city services.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/05/toronto-strike-tax-savings695.html

The savings recouped from Toronto’s civic workers strike will likely be put towards property tax bills next year instead of being mailed out as rebates to city residents.

The city’s executive committee recommended Monday that the estimated $33.2 million saved in the summer work stoppage be applied to next year’s operating budget.

Some city councillors had pushed for an immediate rebate.

But the city has estimated the cost of issuing and administering rebate cheques at somewhere between $2 million and $3 million.

Mayor David Miller said Monday that reflecting those savings in property tax bills is “the fairest and most efficient way” to return the money to Torontonians.

The proposal is expected to save taxpayers around 2.8 per cent on their tax bills — about $36 million — next year.

But Miller wouldn’t say if property taxes will increase in 2010, or by how much. While there are no official figures out, the city is facing a significant budget shortfall next year.

Council will vote on the executive committee’s recommendation later this month.

The 39-day strike by about 30,000 municipal employees left most residents of Canada’s largest city with no residential garbage or recycling collection. City-run daycares and summer day camps were closed, along with swimming pools and most other city services.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/05/toronto-strike-tax-savings695.html

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