Learn from Halifax — don’t amalgamate

Re: “Why I support a study into amalgamation,” comment, Sept. 22. I live in Halifax and I see there’s discussion of amalgamation in Greater Victoria. My advice? Don’t do it!

In Halifax, we have a wide range of communities that were forced into an arranged marriage by the province in 1996. We run the gamut from the urban core to small picturesque seaside communities. These communities have nothing in common, other than the unfortunate circumstance of being in the former Halifax County in 1996.

After amalgamation, competition between municipal units was lost, causing property taxes to skyrocket. In the first four years, urban taxes increased by 10 per cent and rural taxes increased by 30 per cent. Sixteen years later, they are much, much higher.

The estimated costs of amalgamation were predicted to be $10 million; they totalled $40 million.

The desires of local communities are routinely ignored by the regional council and an ever growing, centralized and unaccountable bureaucracy.

I and several neighbours want to build cottages and retirement homes on a private road that already has several homes on it. This road is an hour’s drive outside the urban core and what should have been a routine application has denied by “one size fits all” subdivision bylaws originally intended for communities 80 kilometres away.

If you want people who live outside your community to be able to tell you what you can or cannot do with your home then, by all means, amalgamate. If you would prefer to have common sense, local decisions made by your community for your community, then steer clear of amalgamation. George Hornmoen Halifax