Tax Increase! Maybe Not.

There seems to be some interest amongst our Council about maintaining the Status Quo on tax levels. In simple terms no increase, where does this come from check out Councilor’s Saindon Blog he states the following.

“Can we still have no tax tax increase this year? My answer to that is yes and your administration and council will work to that end. Certain budget adjustments and programs may feel a further pinch ,but I am confident we can find the extra needed to offset the school board and senior’s housing increases for this year.”

How will Council and administration pull this off?

Well let me say this, politicians and administrators will always find a good reason to spend our money, there is no shortage of worthy causes to help.
Through my previous experiences on council when you hear a politician or administrator tell you that the budget is as tight as it can be, there is no further room to cut don’t believe them.
There may be no further “political will” buts there’s always room, anybody that’s ever drawn up a budget knows that there’s always wiggle room built in.

Let me give you an example, the new jobs that were created. From what I heard from the budget process there was dollars placed into the budget for 10 months wages for a Public Works Foreman, the opportunity to apply for the job is open until March 25. Then there will be interviews, the person hired will probably need to give notice so realistically they will not start until June 1 at the earliest there’s three months wages probably $20,000.

The other positions were budgetted for a full year, none of those positions have been posted yet so there is at least three more months wages probably minimum $50,000.

The only problem with this approach is it gives a misleading dollar figure for wages moving forward, because next year the municipality will be faced with the cost for a full year.

Anyway that’s just my ideas on reaching a zero percent tax increase, but it will take more than that to offset the almost $200,000 increase in the ASFF and the Seniors foundation.

More than anything else it's about "political will"