Penticton taxpayers are left in the dark
DEAR EDITOR:
With the latest iteration of a proposed 9.7% tax increase, taxpayers must wonder what kind of logic, if any, is being shown down at City Hall.
Taxpayers were told that there was a surplus, but not as to how much. We were told that there was a surplus in the electrical reserve account. Again, we don’t know how much but that monies could be taken from that account to further develop the bike lane. Then there was an initially proposed tax rate hike of 8.5%. Not long after that, the next posted rate hike was to be about 5.8%.
With the newly-proposed tax rate hike of 9.7% makes things a real crap shoot for taxpayers. We, the taxpayers, your bosses, deserve to know what’s going on. It would seem that because Vancouver is projecting a 9.7% tax rate hike that we should be subjected to it too. Is this a case of monkey see, monkey do, or what, especially when we are led to believe that there are surpluses?
Once again, the three main issues come to the fore: accountability, fiscal responsibility and openness. It might be likened to the often attributed to statement by Marie-Antoinette saying, “Let them eat cake.”
It would seem that, at City Hall, there is a problem discerning the difference between common sense and nonsense. To better understand this a definition of the two seems to be in order. Common sense is sound or prudent judgement based on a simple perception of a situation or facts. On the other hand, nonsense reflects foolishness or meaningless words or actions. The jury is still out on this one.
Why the newly-proposed tax rate hike, no one knows except for Council. We taxpayers seem to be deemed as mushrooms and fed lots of BS and kept in the dark.
With this proposed tax hike are we to believe that several important infrastructural needed projects are pending (unlike the bike lane project)? If this is the case, these projects should be based on needed issues... transportation systems, communication networks, sewage, water, and school systems, etc.
From where I sit, unless there is a marked change in attitude at City Hall, we will continue to be the “proverbial mushrooms” and will be kept in the dark.
Ron Barillaro
Penticton