City tax hike unacceptable

According to a recent public poll,
66 per cent of Barrie residents are
dissatisfied with city council’s decision
to hike property taxes by 2.3 per cent in 2010.

I can certainly understand why people are
not happy. We are just coming out of the
worst recession since the Great Depression
and thousands of people in Canada have lost
their jobs. This is not the time to ask
Barrie residents to dig deeper into their
wallets to pay increased property taxes.

It’s very unfortunate that the mayor and
council couldn’t keep tax rates flat at this time.

The average tax increase for the City of
Barrie since 2001 has been a staggering 4.7
per cent. The cumulative effect of a
4.7-per-cent tax increase over 10 years
is unacceptable and people cannot afford
this trend to continue.

Based on a study published in Canadian
Business Online, June 4, 2009, Barrie
was ranked well down the list of Ontario
cities with 17 other municipalities having
less expensive tax rates – cities like
Toronto, Markham, Kitchener, Waterloo,
Collingwood, Guelph, Kingston, Brampton,
and Ottawa to name a few. The study used
2007 tax rates and average property values.

Regardless if we have moved up or down a
position or two on the list, the point I
am making is that we have much room for
improvement.

Joe Tascona
Mayoral candidate