BUDGET PROTECTS SERVICES AND CONTROL COSTS  - FOR THIS YEAR

The budget passed by council this week is a bridging budget. It keeps property taxes at the same level as last year and maintains services. However, the solutions that were used are not likely to be available next year. Between now and next year a lot of work will be done to put long-term solutions in place.

In 2004, when cuts were made to city services that people in Kanata use, I heard very clearly that they were not acceptable and people did not want that approach repeated. I also know that for people on fixed incomes, anything that can be done to keep property taxes as low as possible helps.

In this year’s budget, services are being maintained. There is also funding to address some of Kanata’s priorities such as protection of environmentally significant lands within the urban area, additional adult crossing guards to help protect the safety of our children, and more youth on the move teams to help address problems with vandalism and noise during the summer.

What made this possible was a much higher than expected surplus. Normally, surpluses and deficits in the operating budget are used to balance each other out. Putting surpluses into the capital reserves allows deficits to be made up without causing the city long-term financial problems.

This year the surplus was $23 million. That was seen as unreasonably high and for that reason it was felt that funds should be used to help avoid increasing the tax rate.

Regardless of how people voted in the last municipal election, there is a strong sense that Council should work together to find solutions to problems facing our city. The Mayor made it clear that he wanted to avoid cuts and that, if one-time solutions were used this year, he would present ideas that will provide savings for next year, while not affecting service levels.

I feel strongly that if there are proposals for saving taxpayers money, Council should be looking at them. For this reason, even though I am normally uncomfortable with short-term solutions, I worked with the Mayor and other councillors and voted for the motion that provided a way to protect services and control costs.

BAD PLANNING DECISIONS HELP DRIVE UP TAXES

Too often when councillors vote on planning issues they don’t think about what it will mean for city finances. We saw another example of that last week. 

When development is approved where no provision has been made for it, we see traffic congestion on roads serving the area. Sooner or later, taxpayers have to pay for the solution.

By itself, the development approved on agricultural land in rural Cumberland last Friday does not represent a huge cost. But the cost of these types of decisions add up and, with the cost of growth in the hundreds of millions of dollars, we see the impact on the tax bill.

NORTH-SOUTH LIGHT RAIL PROPOSAL DEFEATED AGAIN

The most recent plan to revive the north-south light rail proposal was defeated at Council on February 23. It was recognized that the costs of fixing the problems with the north-south light rail plan exceeded the cost of any legal action.

WORKING FULL-TIME FOR KANATA

I appreciate the chance to hear from you about issues affecting our community. You can reach me at 613-580-2752 (office), 613-580-2762 (fax), or peggy.feltmate@ottawa.ca