Councils start tax hike season

WATERLOO REGION — Newly elected local councils are ready to table 2019’s property taxes and water costs.

Waterloo expects to unveil a tax increase Monday. Waterloo regional council will begin debating a tax increase Tuesday. Other councils expect to present their tax and rate proposals in January.

But the Ford government has put regional governments here and elsewhere under review after slashing Toronto council almost by half, and cancelling fall elections for regional chair in four other communities.

A spokesperson for the Progressive Conservative government said in September that it intends to review the efficiency of local governments where “the hard-earned dollars of taxpayers are being stretched.”

Political scientist Robert Williams, retired from the University of Waterloo, said it makes sense for local councils to reconsider how they deliver services, to influence reform if the province intervenes.

He advises local councils to tax prudently “given the rumblings that are out there.”

“The more you’ve done to demonstrate the value of your current system, with or without adjustments, the stronger your case will be,” he said.

“You need to need to show that you are taking the idea of a review seriously, and the more you can be prepared for that the better.”

Regional councillor Michael Harris concurs. “The message has been sent that if municipal councils aren’t willing to look within, and take a strong, hard look at their own operations, we may very well have other levels of government do that for us,” said Harris, a former provincial MPP elected in Kitchener.

Property taxes, fees and rates are set by 41 politicians serving on four councils across Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo.

Financially, the three cities operate mostly as one level of government. Waterloo regional council delivers most public services, raises most property taxes, and splits water costs. Three city councils retain a lesser share of services, taxation and rates.

Four local councils have collectively increased taxes by more than one-third across three cities since 2007. This increase is almost 60 per cent higher than inflation over the same period.

Only one council among 12 taxed below inflation in the past three terms. That was in Waterloo between 2011 and 2014, the final term of former mayor Brenda Halloran.

The Waterloo council that followed under Mayor Dave Jaworsky taxed far more heavily, applying the extra spending to achieve or make progress on almost all of its goals.

Waterloo proposes to increase water rates by a further five per cent starting in February, after more than doubling rates since 2006. A typical Waterloo water cost would reach $926 in 2019.

Waterloo’s stormwater drainage fee is proposed to increase a further 6.5 per cent, reaching a cost of $142 for a typical household in 2019. Council doubled this fee in the past four years.

Jaworsky defends increases. He argues it’s the cost of clean drinking water regulations, cleaner sewage treatment to improve the Grand River, and more dredging of drainage ponds to reduce flooding.

Jaworsky points to money-saving co-operation among local governments such as the shared purchase of energyefficient street lights. “I think this would shine brightly to the Ford government,” he said.

Like others, he’s uncertain if the Ford government will alter the structure of local government to save money.

“I hope what the Ford government decides to do, if they go down this path, is to say ‘Here’s the goals or the lenses we’d like you to use, and the goals we’d like you to achieve in assessing yourself,’ as opposed to just randomly picking things and assigning municipalities to merge.” he said.

Go online to therecord.com to track tax increases across three cities since 2007.