More Oppressive Budget Bullshit

Council is still eyeing a massive hike to Collingwood property taxes, proving they lack any concern about the problems facing seniors and others on fixed incomes, low-income earners, and the many working-class people simply trying to make ends meet in an increasingly expensive town. Every tax increase, every utility increase, every user fee increase makes their lives harder.

No one at the council table seems to have the spine to stand up to staff demands for more money, more employees, more stuff in their offices and parking lots. In a time of inflation, the town should be trimming costs and staff, not adding more. But take heart: millionaires can still afford to live here, even if no one else can.

A story in CollingwoodToday noted (emphasis added)*:

As of this most recent draft, the tax increase for 2024 now sits at 3.73 per cent following council removing two new staff hire requests from the budget at their Nov. 20 meeting.| If the 3.73 per cent tax increase is approved, the impact on a median-assessed home of $327,000 will be $89.93 for the year.

For anyone living on a fixed income, it’s difficult to afford this already-overtaxed, expensive town. Back in October, John Megarry wrote a letter to CwoodToday asking why Collingwood’s property taxes are 21% higher than our neighbour, Wasaga Beach; a town with a similar population size and demographics. Megarry wrote:

Collingwood needs (2022 data) $80.2 million to run the town. Wasaga Beach gets by on $66.1 million. Collingwood needs (2022 data) 202 full-time employees, Wasaga Beach needs 166.
I presented this to council during their 2023 budget deliberations, and again recently during the 2024 budget process.
To date, I have had no real explanation as to the disparity.

Nor have I heard or seen any response to Megarry’s question from either our lackadaisical mayor or the well-paid town staff. I’d suggest it’s simply because townhall doesn’t care enough about openness and accountability to bother justifying their actions. Maybe if they ignore annoying questions long enough, people will forget about them.

Higher property taxes coupled with higher development charges in a time of inflation just makes Collingwood more and more expensive but council and staff seem oblivious to that fact or to the hardships they impose. Giving a shit about our community’s wellbeing isn’t, it seems, the role of anyone in townhall, mayor and council included.

And why should our quidnuncs on council care if they make your life harder and more expensive? After all, they will vote themselves a raise with every budget, covering the costs of any financial burden they impose on the rest of us. I doubt the well-paid senior staff care about how another tax hike in a decade of unrelenting tax increases affects you, given that many of them don’t even live in town.**

You, the property owner already fighting inflation, skyrocketing mortgage and rental rates, accelerating food costs, higher utility bills and fuel prices… can just eat cake.

On top of that, the story adds, “Newly included in the fourth draft of the 2024 budget is a year-end forecast for 2023, which staff say the town is expecting a surplus this year of about $1.3 million. The majority of this, according to staff, is due to remaining funds for salaries and benefits due to some vacant staff positions remaining unfilled.” So the town is knowingly grabbing more of your money than they need, just because they can.

Of course, any property tax increase will also be passed on to everyone renting here. Despite their promises to do something about affordable housing. that “something” turns out to be making Collingwood less affordable. Yes, it seems we were conned by their election promises and virtue-signalling: none of them give a shit about affordability here. How very Saundersonish of them.***

Collingwood deserves better.

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* The reporter didn’t ask anyone in townhall where in town you can find a home assessed at $327,000, when the average selling price for a three-bedroom home is almost $1 million… nor did the reporter ask what the blended rate would be when the county’s 3.7% increase gets added on top of Collingwood’s tax hike. Or what the increase would add to a new home assessed at a much higher value. But local media, eh? What more do you expect? It’s not like it’s their job to ask questions or get facts. That would require some sort of journalistic ethics. Easier just to parrot the town’s official line, rather than investigate. In fact, the entire article reads like a verbatim reprint of a town propaganda media release. Local media is no longer our watchdog on government: instead, it’s a puppy on its back waiting for a belly rub from the authorities.

** A quick reminder of how much the town helped residents during the pandemic lockdowns and layoffs of 2020-22: NOTHING. The people most affected by the pandemic were the poor, the working class, seniors, people on fixed incomes, and people working for minimum wage: the same people most affected by this council’s tax hikes and assaults on affordable housing. Coincidence? Methinks not: Saunderson was mayor then. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

*** Lest readers forget: this council eagerly approved building a 24-storey waterfront highrise condo development, turning the town’s century-old iconic terminals into a massive playground for millionaires. Nothing says affordable housing like waterfront condos selling for $2-$3 million or more.
But that’s not all: council will spend tens of millions of our tax dollars putting in new infrastructure for this private development, PLUS give that same private developer 80% of the public parkland on The Spit for the millionaires to have a parking lot. Millions of our dollars will go to a private, for-profit corporation building highrise condos for the rich.
And how much has our council spent on actually building affordable housing or helping people out of homelessness? Right: nothing. Have I mentioned yet how very Saundersonish of them this elitism is?

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