Dear Editor:
RE: Centre Wellington looking at 6.3% property tax increase in 2025, June 20.
It looks like the spineless council of Centre Wellington is preparing citizens for another massive tax increase.
They probably will apologize profusely that it is too much and whittle at the margins of the budget and end up maybe at a 5.9% increase. At that point they wring their hands on how hard it has been for the staff sacrifices in our present economic climate and then proceed to self congratulate themselves on how hard everyone worked together to get the new massive increase in property taxes.
I would like to remind citizens that the new MPAC assessments will be coming out next year and there has not been a new one for eight years instead of the usual four years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Industrial properties will face exceptional increases because council arbitrarily jacked up land prices 150% regardless of the economic market conditions.
The splitting of the inflational difference between the CPI and the Non-Residential Building Construction Index is totally disingenuous by the staff.
The operating budget is 80+% labour costs for the staff for heaven’s sake. How stupid for the councillors not to say a firm “no.”
Why are we building a Taj Mahal operations centre for staff while absolutely nothing has been done to assist affordable housing in Centre Wellington? Was that not the so-called election promise? Increasing the quantity of housing starts does not make them more affordable.
What is the real cost of the operations centre? It started at $27 million before our present inflation crisis. Will the interest cost be add to the operational budget so we need even higher taxes otherwise developers will have to add this to the already high housing costs? You betcha.
The original price of $6 million to fix the roof, bathrooms and structural deficiencies of the old buildings is looking very good until we can do a joint operations centre with the county.
Lastly, let us get to the heart of the budget problem. Bloated bureaucracy with no required productivity and efficiency markers like in the private sector. Sorry bureaucrats, you are not special or different.
Some of you need to stop new hiring as if we are already at 55,000 people.
It is just not cost effective.
Stephen Kitras,
Centre Wellington