Posted Feb 22, 2014, 1:37 PM
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Want to help spend $1.3 billion? You should – it’s your money
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Feb 22 2014)
Hey, taxpayer: The city is about to reach into your wallet for thousands of dollars.
You should drop by City Hall Tuesday to tell councillors how to spend it.
No, really. Demand they spend more on buses for Rymal Road, especially on weekends — or suggest that cash is better spent filling a nasty winter crop of potholes.
Scold them — or thank them — for putting off budget-busting rehab for the weed-ridden sports fields your kids play on. Suggest they collect fewer tax dollars from you next year, rather than more.
Sure, you can complain about taxes any old day.
But Tuesday is special because it offers residents the chance to talk dollars and cents with a captive audience of councillors — the folks poised to approve a $1.3-billion operating budget that includes a property tax levy of close to $748 million this year.
Those are dollars that add salt to icy roads, fuel buses, open or close extra shelter beds and replace storm-mangled trees on your street. If council sticks with its 1.8 per cent draft budget increase, the average city resident will pay an extra $65 in city and education taxes in 2014, or $3,634.
Thanks to property reassessment and area rating, the bill varies depending on where you live — for example, Flamborough is braced for an average 3.5 per cent bump.
That budget would still rank among the stingiest in Ontario this year — but it would also mean another year of infrequent buses on the Mountain and no relief from ambulance shortages.
We've included a bite-sized budget primer below. Chew on it, then come out to City Hall Tuesday between 3 and 7 p.m. and tell councillors what you think.
OPERATING BUDGET NUTSHELL
Gross spending: including fees, subsidies, etc.: $1.28 billion
Levy spending: what you are taxed for: $748 million
Change over last year: $21 million
Average tax impact: 1.8 per cent, or an extra $65 for the owner of a property worth $267,500
Cuts needed for zero tax increase: $15 million
NEW SPENDING
Council will consider up to $3.4 million in service improvements before setting the budget in March. The big battles include:
Transit: Council could spend between $500,000 and $2.6 million on more frequent bus service on the Mountain, particularly on Rymal Road, Stone Church Road and the north-south A Line. Either fares or taxes are destined to rise to make it happen.
Stadium: Staff want an extra $830,000 and seven workers to help run the new Pan Am stadium. New revenue should cover the cost, but councillors are leery about adding new staff before the $145-million facility even opens.
Drains: Staff say we need to clean out clogged catch basins and stormwater ponds more frequently or risk flooding. About $300,000 is on the table.
Ambulance: Paramedic Chief Mike Sanderson has asked for a new 24-7 ambulance to help cut overtime and the risk of increasingly frequent ambulance shortages. It would cost taxpayers about $260,000.
TAX INCREASES: A RECENT HISTORY
2011: 0.8 per cent
2012: 0.9 per cent
2013: 1.9 per cent
2014: 1.8 per cent (proposed)
YOUR BUDGET: HOW TO SPEAK UP
Option 1: Make a public delegation in council chambers between 3 and 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Tips: Try to register by the end of Monday if you can with carolyn.biggs@hamilton.ca, but walk-on delegations will also be accepted. You have five minutes to share your thoughts.
Option 2: Submit a written letter, by email at the address above, or by mail to the clerk's office at 71 Main Street West. Call 905-546-CITY for more information.
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"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
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