Editor, The News:
Re: $110 million for parks and rec (The News, Dec. 2).
Our mayor tells us that we are to be subjected to a 3.33 per cent property tax increase for 2016.
She insinuates we are not keeping up with the demand.
I ask you, mayor, with the hundreds of condominiums and hundreds of new houses being built each year in Maple Ridge, why isn’t that additional millions of tax dollars enough to keep up?
To use your logic, we should be paying property tax increases in perpetuity because Maple Ridge spends more money each year than it takes in.
That being the case, I would say it is long past time we brought in an expert on municipal financing to balance our books and say no to those who come to the well with open hands.
Furthermore, I am so tired of hearing where Maple Ridge stands as opposed to other municipalities in Metro Vancouver when it comes to property taxes.
We should always be the envy entire Metro Vancouver’s 21 member municipalities, not number four or five.
I could go on to point out particulars but the paper won’t print it and city hall won’t understand it. They never listen.
Mike Boileau
Maple Ridge
No meaning
Editor, The News:
I attended the meeting at city hall on Friday and made a request to have a simplified revenue/expense sheet included in the budget that would show in plain language how much cash surplus existed at the end of the year, where our revenues come from, and where they are spent. It was met with total ridicule. It has become very clear that the entire process is solely to satisfy regulatory requirements. This council, like all the ones in the past, doesn’t care to allow the lowly taxpayer to have any meaningful part in the process.
Graham Mowatt
Maple Ridge
