Editor: I would like to enlighten a previous council member, who has endorsed Jack Froese as his choice for mayor in a campaign ad for the upcoming Nov. 15 election.
1. Under “Responsible Leadership,” it states: “Jack slowed the rate of property tax increases.” Not quite. I just did a spread sheet on 50 single family homes in the Milner Heights subdivision that I live in. Strangely enough, our tax increases came to an average of 5.5 per cent. Taxes at $4,400 today, at a 5.5 per cent increase per year, means you could be paying $5,450 four years from now.
2. The ad states: “Under Jack Froese, Langley now has the lowest property taxes in the region.” It should have. Most in the region have better transit, schools etc. In some cases, taxes are lower. Ask yourself why.
For example: There is a 25 unit per acre, strata-titled complex on the northwest corner of 197 Street and 64 Avenue. This one-acre property assessment was reduced by $1 million. That equates to $40,000 per unit. Why you ask? It’s because there is an over-abundance of housing stock on the market. That $1 million assessment reduction cost us taxpayers approximately $4,000 in lost tax revenue. So in fact we are helping to subsidize this mess.
In my opinion, it looks like we are waiting to collect DCCs from developers and because these amounts aren’t covering all the actual costs we are having to borrow the money, which in turn is costing us millions in interest charges.
3. Funny thing, the endorser of this ad had his property tax go up by 4.8 per cent.
4. Another interesting fact is that, in 2012, the mayor’s business paid $7,684.48 in taxes. In 2013, it was reduced to $2,115.07. This in part was due to a recalculation on farm structures by our friends at the provincial government. This year the taxes went down by another $105.77, for a total of $2,009.30.
5. The annual report for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2013 states that the total debt per capita in 2012 was $43.7 million, or $406 per person. In 2013, it has risen to $63,194,000, or $572 per person. This is a whopping 44 per cent increase.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not happy about this, so please get out and vote.
Dennis Townsend,
Langley
