Fire up the torches!
Render the pitch! Heat up the tar! Pluck the feathers!
It’s city budget time!
Yes, time to sharpen up the outrage as city council gets ready to deliberate on the 2015 municipal budget.
It’s often the most controversial stories of the year, with good reason. City taxes are the level of government funding that’s closest to the pockets it comes out of. Consequently, it’s the level of government that faces the most public and direct ire.
You can go to the meetings and you can see the process of how council arrives at their latest tax increase –sorry, city budget. Of course, nobody actually goes go to see the process. They just read about it in the local rag and then complain about it in bars, coffee shops and dinner parties. Some might go as far as to write a letter to the editor. And, in this modern age, there’s the ease and convenience of social media.
Newspapers (like ours) even make it easy for you to lash out at councillors from your own computers by commenting on stories on our website.
One stop outrage! Get your info, fire off a missive.
As Mirror reporter Kristen Douglas wrote on Page 1, Budget deliberations will be held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at city hall, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, with an optional day of budget planning on Friday, also from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The public is invited to attend these meetings and has the opportunity to speak to council about the financial plan at the start of the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday meetings beginning at 10 a.m. There is a five minute maximum per presentation and those who would like to speak are encouraged to register in advance by calling 250-286-5700.
Over the last two years, council has raised residential property taxes by 3.91 per cent and 2.92 per cent in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Despite council’s attempt to point out the relatively-low percentage increase, it did not sit well with many people, especially after a series of tax increases over the last few years.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record – that’s a skipping CD or MP3 glitch to you young folk – recent councils felt that the increases were necessary as we transition from the fiscal milk cow that was the Elk Falls pulp and paper mill, which was lost when that operation shut down.
The last municipal regime headed by then-mayor Walter Jakeway was notable for the dissension…from the mayor and a couple councillors over inreasing taxes in the last budget. Jakeway and others advocated cuts rather than increases.
Current-mayor Andy Adams and this new council will be deliberating in the aftermath of the unique atmosphere of the last council’s mayor being at odds with the majority of his council.
Nothing unacceptable about that, it was just that Jakeway was never loath to complain publicly about losing the budget vote (and other issues).
So, it will be interesting to see how the current group decides about its budget. Will it float a tax increase? That will be a bold step given the climate of the past council. Or will they balance the budget? We shall see.
One thing I’m fairly certain of is that whatever the outcome, I expect Adams will be more respectful of the democratic process and accept majority rules.
Whatever the outcome, you, the taxpayer, do have a vested interest in the process, so get interested and get involved.
