Editor, The News:
I occasionally read the local papers and note the heady issues being discussed at council, like dogs making too much noise in an off-leash area (not that it wouldn’t be irksome to nearby residents).
Late last month I opened my tax notice to see that my taxes payable to Maple Ridge have gone from $2,454 to $2,850, which is a 16 per cent increase.
Out here in Ruskin, we don’t get a whole lot of services, no sidewalks or curbs and few streetlights.
If you see a police car out here, it is more likely an officer going home for lunch than it would be a routine patrol.
We do get the mower that last year came around well into fall to trim the dead and dying grass in the ditches.
My house value went up $66,000 and my total taxes went up close to $600 when you include school taxes, GVRD fees.
I know, the mill rate is the culprit and not council.
Steve Miller
Maple Ridge
Just one taxpayer
Editor, The News:
As I normally do each year at this time, I write to express my views on the extraordinary burden that our local government puts on each homeowner by way of property taxes.
Each time I write I receive no response.
One would think the bright bulbs down at municipal hall are all proud of their spending habits, especially the ever-increasing salaries for the bureaucrats, and they would be happy to justify it to the good people of Maple Ridge with a written explanation as to why they need so much money from the taxpayer each year.
Unless I am mistaken, Mr. Jim Rule, our district manager, is compensated annually more then our prime minister. If I am incorrect, please, Mr. Rule, set me straight with a rebuttal to my letter.
I believe you are paid in excess of $200,000, with and expense account for travel and such?
Given all that money, what type of performance are we to expect? A hold on our taxes? A decrease on those taxes? How about a long range plan to reduce and eliminate the property tax burden altogether?
Hey, that would be a feat recognized around the World. Well, not when it got to United Arab Emirates, where there are no taxes, whatsoever.
Actually, there are many nations who charge zero taxes. This is achieved by using the natural resources of those nations to pay for the infrastructure and administration of their institutions.
We don’t do that in B.C. or Canada because all of the profits go to the corporations instead of the bounty, which is rightly the property of British Columbians.
We are stuck in a particular mode that does not allow bureaucrats to think outside the mould.
It’s past time to open the doors of municipal hall and allow a new, brisk wind of thought to blow into the building just to see what we can accomplish.
Whatever the district is doing now is not working when it comes to more and more and more taxes from the one single taxpayer.
Mike Boileau
Maple Ridge
