It’s been almost a week since the All Candidates Forum, and my impressions haven’t changed upon reflection. I didn’t listen to the broadcast again – haven’t had time, we’ve had a few sick people in the house, myself included – but after hearing the two mayoral candidates on Issues & Answers this morning, I’m sure my first impressions were correct.
At the forum, Jim Eglinski came armed with facts, figures and statistics. Admittedly, being the incumbent Mayor, he has ready access to these, but if I can get the City’s financial statements off the internet, the same facts and figures should be available to everyone. Bruce Lantz, the challenger, did not have any figures or stats at his finger tips.
When asked, Eglinski was able to tell the public how much residential taxpayers would have to pay annually for the Enerplex – about $40 I believe the tax increase would be. Businesses, of course would be more and he had general figures on that. Basically, the larger the business, the bigger the bill. He said the new Fire Hall must go ahead, for the safety of the community and to keep everyone’s insurance rates lower. If we do not have adequate fire protection, the insurance companies will charge people higher rates for their fire insurance. Who wants that?
Conversely, Lantz simply said if he become mayor, he will advocate a freeze on ALL capital spending for 6 months in order to assess it. He was also not in favour of a new Fire Hall, stating that it was not a critical situation … how would he feel if it was his house that caught on fire? I’d say it’s critical – as a voter, I believe fire protection is extremely important and always a critical issue.
Lantz also advocated a 0% tax increase. Okay, as a tax-payer, that sounds good to me too. However, because Premier Gordon Campbell has ordered a freeze on building assessments throughout the Province (in light of the world financial crisis), our assessments won’t be going up, and therefore our taxes won’t either. At least that’s my understanding. If there’s someone reading this who is more informed on this matter, please feel free to comment. I admit I don’t quite get how the City’s mill rate and the building assessments work together to come up with the taxes we have to pay.
Lantz also discussed the downtown revitalization project. He called for turning the empty office spaces above downtown businesses into apartments, stating that the building owners can’t rent that office space out for $300 a month, so it would be better to turn it into housing. Which would also address some of the City’s housing shortage.
However, I heard this suggestion from Councillor Larry Evans over a month before Bruce Lantz mentioned it at the Forum. It’s not a new idea.
Back to the taxes. When the City was faced with many angry business people, following the announcement that business taxes would increase by 42%, they worked with the businesses (in three separate meetings, I believe) to find an alternate solution. The taxes did increase, quite a bit, but not the 42% originally proposed.
Now, Lantz said on the radio this morning (Issues & Answers on energeticcity.ca) that the remaining 20% would be added onto the 2009 taxes. Eglinski, who as Mayor, was presumably present at all 3 of these meetings, said that was news to him.
So, is someone making up these figures, or someone else asleep during these meetings? I think this information is probably available to anyone who asks . . . and I certainly don’t recall reading anything in the newspapers (either the Alaska Highway News or the Northeast News) about this. Therefore, it is news to me too.
But you be the judge. Listen to the interviews on www.energeticcity.ca on the Issues & Answers page, and the Municipal Election page and make your decisions. Don’t just take my word for it.
Please, however, get out and vote on Saturday, November 15 . . . that’s 5 days from now. You don’t have to vote for all 6 councillor positions, and you need only to vote for one mayoral candidate. I didn’t vote for 6 people last time – there were some I didn’t think deserved to get elected. No doubt it will be the same this time.
Thanks again for reading – and don’t forget to VOTE!!
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