Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown
Mayor Andrea Horwath and city councillors have said they've had to play "catch-up" due to previous terms of council delaying spending on capital projects such as road upgrades and social programs such as affordable housing.
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While there is sure to be "savings" in specific areas if they look hard enough and make tough decisions, I think the point about previous councils delaying spending is a big one. For YEARS council was focused on limiting increases to 2%, without consideration about whether this made future sense for the city.
Now it's time to do what needs to be done. Unfortunately, it's happening as a major homelessness and social services time bomb is exploding, and now under threats from a POTUS with the MOSTUS that will devastate the economy if fully implemented as stated by him. I'm not sure how much further Hamilton's manufacturing sectors can fall, but I think the ones the city has been trying to grow (e.g., agri-food) will be hit and more losses to the industrial/commercial tax base will simply add to the burden on the residential side of the city's property tax regime.
And don't forget this increase is "average" -- in some parts of the city it will be less, but in others it will be more.