Letter in response to Daily Townsman article re
AAP:
It appears that Mayor Pratt, who ran on a
platform of fixing our roads, and not raising taxes, is very concerned
with citizens having a different opinion than his on the matter of the a $10
million, 20 year tax burden.
Rather than hosting a public information
session, he chose to hold a closed media event so that he could point fingers
and malign any resident using the only available democratic process to oppose
an unnecessary tax. This is confrontational, divisive and
disrespectful.
'Coming out swinging' against citizens and
threatening to spend $50,000 on a referendum regardless of meeting the AAP
requirements, is an attempt at undermining the democratic process. He may
as well have said "it's my way or else."
Mayor and Council should have expected some
unhappy taxpayers on such a large loan. Friends of mine are expecting a
$500 per year tax increase on their business, which is hardly as Mr. Pratt
stated "a package of cigarettes, it's a glass of beer, it's a cup of
coffee” each month. He attempted to trivialize the impact of this 20 year
tax burden.
The young man organizing residents opposed to
this potential tax burden, was meticulous in getting a fact sheet prepared for
those who agreed to help get signatures opposing the $10 million loan.
There are others collecting signatures on their own.
Do we need the roads done in two years, when
they can be done in five at the current rate of taxation? The 1%
dedicated road improvement tax, implemented many years ago, has been used by
every sitting Council since. To say that the previous Council “did
nothing about the infrastructure and that's part of the problem of what we have
today” is incorrect and spiteful.
Couldn’t Council use reserve funds towards
roads? Mayor Pratt said they are applying for the $120 billion federal fund and
$148 million provincial fund. Why not wait for those and alleviate this
potential tax burden?
The Mayor appears unable or unwilling to meet
with the public, allow democratic processes to unfold, and accept the
outcome.
Standing for democracy,
Sharon Cross
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