The mayor said he was not going to raise taxes.
He raised them 4.3% this year. By 2010 taxes will have risen by 21.1 percent.
The words John Rodriguez are simply a byword for liar!
I hope the 26,000 people who voted for him are happy.
But percentages are misleading. It's much worse than it appears.
For example, a 50% increase on 1 $ is 50 cents. A 50% increase on 2 $ is 1 $.
The higher your taxes the more you're going to pay, despite everyone getting the same tax percentage increase. The 2008 tax increase of 5.2% is 5.2% of what your tax bill was in 2007. But your 2009 tax increase of 6% is based upon what your taxes are in 2008; not 2007.
Then in 2010, your 5.6% tax increase is based upon your 2009 tax bill and not based upon your 2007 or 2008 tax rate.
You should be shocked at what a bald faced liar our bus driver truly is.
We already pay higher taxes than in Toronto. And these tax increases do not include the water &/or sewer rate increases that are forth coming. Nevermind the increases in natural gas and hydro.
Pathetic!
Councillors hear taxing news; Official provides fiscal forecast - including tax hikes
Harold Carmichael
Local News - Thursday, June 28, 2007 @ 09:00
Greater Sudbury councillors got a glimpse of the ghost of property tax bills future Wednesday night and they didn't like what they saw.
In a preliminary financial forecast for 2008-10, prepared by Lorella Hayes, the city's chief financial officer/treasurer, taxpayers are looking at a tax increase of 5.2 per cent in 2008, 6.0 per cent in 2009 and 5.6 per cent in 2010.
The forecasted increases incorporate a proposed 2.3 per cent capital levy that would bring in millions of dollars in each of the three fiscal years to help maintain existing infrastructure.
Without the capital levy, the increases would be 2.9 per cent in 2008, 3.7 per cent in 2009 and 2.3 per cent in 2010.
Hayes' report raised a variety of responses from councillors.
Ward 1 Coun. Joe Cimino said the forecasted increases were just that - forecasted -and taxpayers should not panic.
"This is a discussion that will happen during the budget process," he said. "(In the 2007 budget talks) We went from 7.4 to 4.7 and then got it down to 3.6 per cent. Am I happy with the projected amounts? Absolutely not. We will look at the entire budget process and get them down as much as possible."
Ward 8 Coun. Ted Callaghan said Wednesday night's meeting was not the time to dive headfirst into the budget process.
"I don't want to see us spend a lot of time tearing ourselves apart over it," he said. "If council is not happy about the numbers, staff can be told to come back at a later finance committee meeting with more disclosure where this three per cent (an increase more acceptable to council) is: what we can do about it and how to lower it."
Mayor John Rodriguez told council the issue of provincial downloading onto the municipalities needs to be addressed in the coming provincial election campaign.
"I think it's time to educate citizens about the downloaded services that have been put on this community," he said. "Here we are nickel and diming and there's $21 million net provincial downloading. Coun. Callaghan, what could we do with that $21 million? How about a tax cut?
"This year, the city will have to provide security at the provincial building. That's a few more millions this year. It's coming right off the taxpayer and not a penny from Queen's Park."
The issue of public input meetings concerning the budget process was raised, councillors having differing ideas about how many sessions were needed and where they should be held.
Ward 10 Coun. Frances Caldarelli said it was not right to organize meetings that tied up four staff members for an evening, yet only drew five citizens.
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann and Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac, however, said the meetings in their areas were well-attended and proved useful in educating residents about the budget process.
