Timing is everything in life – and that’s true at city hall, too. Particularly so in the renewed debate over a proposed 1% surtax.
Council voted 7-5 on Oct 4 to endorse in principle a 1% surtax on Londoners’ tax bills that would raise $100 million to pay for some pricey projects. A final vote would be held during this winter’s budget debates.
So, in other words, the endorsement of the surtax is a “decided matter of council” — and to re-open the debate within a council year, two-thirds of council (10 councillors) would have to agree to do so. And that’s unlikely.
But guess what?
The council year ends on Nov. 30, and the next council meeting (when the surtax issue will be debated) isn’t until Dec. 6.
So the upshot is this: Even though the 1% surtax endorsement was just two months ago, a two-thirds majority isn’t needed to re-open it – just a council majority, eight votes. That means councillors hoping to axe the 1% surtax have a better chance of doing so.
The motion to re-open the issue was tabled at a committee meeting last week by Paul Van Meerbergen, and supported by Stephen Orser and Denise Brown.
This weekend, I asked Van Meerbergen if the timing of the vote shows some veteran savvy at work. He didn’t really answer, which suggests he thought it was either a really good question or a really dumb one.
(NOTE: there has been some confusion over when full council will deal again with the 1% surtax matter – either Dec. 5 of Dec. 6. It’s the latter, Dec. 6.)
The 1% tax increase (A.K.A. Levy; A.K.A. Surtax) should not see the light of day. The Mayor has good intentions but this is not the time for any added taxation. The 7%/8% water/sewer increase was a mistake – what good are brand new sewers and pipelines if there is nobody that can afford to use them? But I thought i would share a letter that I sent to those who had the fortitude to bring the matter up for debate again. This letter was sent to Mr. Orser and later to Paul & Denise:
Tthank you for your efforts in having Council reconsider the 1% surtax. It’s just what is needed and is a refreshing change from Judy Bryant’s recent statements suggesting that “people are getting tired of this zero tax silliness”!
Politicians at all levels fail to grasp the financial upheaval that we are going through.
I would love to see all the downtown redevelopment schemes – but it’s significant that every development is publicly-funded. UWO, Fanshawe; Hospitals; and the City are all Govt (or taxpayer) funded. That’s a dangerous scenario which is proof that those in Govt feel that they can operate under different rules.
The recent increase in water and sewer rates was ill-advised given the economy. Riising unemployment (particularly in the London & St. Thomas area); the lowest factory employment levels in recorded history; rising food bank demands; record household debt; and social unrest – admittedly, at a very early stage – which recent “OCCUPY” movements are signalling…..are early warnings of an advancing and undoubtedly long-lasting period of economic recession/depression.
Even with the economic waters so obviously stormy, Governments that we count on to do the right thing are already apparently planning exactly the wrong startegy with regard to the public sector. The proper strategy is an extended wage freeze accompanied by higher employee contributions towards their benefits and pensions – in return for job security. But Governments, according to press reports and “leaks,” are already planning significant cuts in public sector employment which will hurt service delivery at the very time that demand is increasing; and will put more people on the unemployment line looking for non-existent jobs in competition with those already displaced by private sector outsourcing and downsizing.
Locally, we have our own problems with the Police Dept looking for added personnel and unaffordable higher wages and benefits. Their demands should be refused – in fact, selective personnel reductions ought to be implemented to offset any increases awarded. Ditto for the Fire Dept.
Overall, the message ought to be to try and maintain the status quo; keep taxes constant; ask everyone to sacrifice; and keep your chin up while praying for better times.
Thank you Stephen for doing the right thing.
Let me know your favourite “Red Kettle” in the Ward – http://fillthekettle.com/ – I’ll make a donation to it. There are a lot of…