City hall bringing the hammer down with tax hike
Finger-pointing, blaming Ontario government probably won't spare council the wrath of voters over potential double-digit tax hikes
A rather ominous column in the Spectator yesterday from my colleague Scott Radley about the dark and foreboding future facing Hamilton taxpayers over the next few years.
As if I need to remind you, city council has already saddled Hamilton taxpayers with a 5.8% tax hike for this year; the largest in recent memory. Sadly, it appears that things will go from bad to worse next year.
Some councillors are warning that next year’s tax increase — and yes, it’s a foregone conclusion that there will be another tax increase — may be in the double digits.
Of course, city council is quick to shift the blame for the anticipated increases to the provincial government’s wrong-headed cancellation of the charges that developers have had to pay for years now to offset the cost of water and sewers, fire and police protection for new neighbourhoods, and that’s a legitimate beef with the province.
But here’s an uncomfortable truth for city council: if municipal taxes continue to increase as they predict, angry taxpayers will vent their anger with city council, not the provincial government.
Can city council honestly say that they have done their job to reduce the stress on taxpayers? Increasing personal office budgets, continuing to allocate funds for expensive consultants and their secretive commitment to this downtown redevelopment group indicates that this Council continues to be tone deaf to the plight of suffering taxpayers.