While keeping taxes as low as possible is often the rallying cry heard most by citizens at Guelph City Hall, there are others who don’t mind paying higher taxes if it results in maintaining and imrpoving services.
Both ends of the spectrum were on display Tuesday night at Guelph City Hall at a town hall meeting on the 2017 budget hosted by Mayor Cam Guthrie.
“We’re nickel and diming,” said one man, referring to a proposed 0.5 per cent special tax levy that would only scratch the surface of the city’s infrastructure backlog.
“I want higher taxes and I want services for them,” he said. “I don’t want to see a decrease in the level of services.”
A woman told the man she found the man’s statements “quite frankly, quite insulting” as she struggles to make ends meet.
“Not paying enough taxes is how we got into this predicament,” said another man during the back-and-forth.
“I’d rather see a 2 per cent increase so we can get these things fixed up,” said the man, to which the Mayor replied “you’re not alone” and that there are those that say “hit me with that and get it over with.”
The Mayor called it the “swallowing the Buckley’s” theory, referring to the “it tastes awful but it works” cough medicine.
Another audience member talked of how he has had to cut out a lot of spending to stay within his means and that people are tired of taxes continually rising.
“At the end of the day we only have a certain amount of money. Where are we supposed to get the extra money? You’re tapping me dry,” he said.
Dealing with different levels of tax tolerance is one of the challenges staff and council face as it sets a budget, the Mayor said.
“We’re doing the best we can. There are different levels of affordability, but we all have affordability in mind,” Guthrie said.
Others said the city has to do a better job of curtailing its expenses and high wages, something the Mayor said is currently underway in the form of service reviews.
A total of 24 citizens, including three councilors, attended the two hour town hall, which included a presentation from Guthrie and a question and answer session.
The Mayor told those gathered that if all the items currently recommended for next year – including operating and capital budgets, the infrastructure tax levy as recommended, rate increases and stormwater fees and all 10 staff-recommended expansions – it would result in the average homeowner in Guelph paying $155.52 more in property taxes in 2017.
The city considers a home assessed at $315,000 as average.
Guthrie answered a question about a staff recommendation to buy $800,000 to buy downtown parking meters. He said he would rather see that put off until 2018 and most of that $800,000 used to prepare detailed site plan work on a possible South End Community Centre.
In response to a question about being overstaffed, the Mayor said the city cut 14 or 15 staff in 2014-15, which was comparable to much-publicized cuts at the much larger City of Brampton earlier this year.
In conclusion the Mayor told those gathered that he has a strong feeling that staff and councilors are working together to keep the budget low, something he has not always felt in the past.
The Mayor has two other budget town halls planned: Nov. 22 on Facebook and Nov. 29 at the West End Community Centre. Both start at 7 p.m.
Public delegations on the budget will be heard by City Council on Nov. 30 and final budget deliberations are set for Dec. 7.
