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\‘ Mr. Eby made specific refer- ence to the amalgamation ques- tion in May in a letter to Kitch- ener council and in an interview. His letter said the philosophy in Ontario has been that consolid- ating municipalities will increase Waterloo residents aren't the only people who feel their city should remain independent. Kitchener City Treasurer Rob- ert Eby has come out in favor of Kitchener and Waterloo remain- ing apart as separate cities. Kitchener Treasurer Against Amalgamation Here is the list originally published in the Record, which shows exactly what the comparable per capita costs were in 1968: Category Kitchener Waterloo Elmira General government t 10.32 ' 11.09 ' 10.20 Police 13.21 12.80 4.16 Fire 14.07 11.30 10.00 Protective inspections .98 .93 nil Street lights 2.34 3.44 2.23 Sidewalks and streets 29.31 19.10 23.41 Traffic control 2.66 2.46 nil Drainage 2.54 2.30 .27 Sanitary sewers 8.59 11.30 19.62 Garbage 8.59 11.30 19.62 Public Health 1.54 1.14 nil Hospital fees 1.75 1.46 nil Social and family services 2.44 3.25 i .76 Children and day nurseries 1.29 .73 nil Aged persons .69 .25 1.48 Parks and recreation 9.97 8.14 11.13 Libraries 4.54 4.15 nil Planniué and zoning 2.34 1.53 .31 Industrial development 3.40 4.87 1.79 Bank interest 1.36 .29 1.06 Financial costs 7.52 3.79 5.94 Unclassified .516. ML _dL7fi Total $132.12 $118.10 $101.98 The article noted that one of the main reasons that a small city has lower costs than a large city si because of the services it doesn't have to provide. This does not hold true for Waterloo because it provides the same type of services as found in Kitchener. - Ottawa. Ontdrid's longest city outside of Metropolitan Tor- onto. had a per capita cost of $176. As the population decreases, so do the costs. Hamilton spent $153 per capita in 1968; London spent $134, and Windsor, $126. Metro Toronto's per capita cost of $244 was the highest in the province. St. Catharines. which is almost the same size as Kitchener. spent $111. Kitchener spent $132 and Sudbury was next in line with $117. "With regional government pending and the amalgamation of Kitchener and Waterloo being a strong possibility under the new system, the figures take on a special significance because they show that the larger a city grows, the faster the costs in- crease, ,, the article said. In 1968 it cost $132 per capita to run Kitchener, compare}! to $118 for Waterloo. The per capita cost in Elmira, which has a population pf t,333, was $101. 7 _ _ - - - ... _. It said the exact difference is difficult to calculate but for the Twin Cities the difference amounted to about 14 per cent in 1968 The article noted that it costs Kitchener taxpayers about 20 per cent more to run their city than it costs taxpayers of other comparable cities. _ " A Kitchener-Waterloo Record article on the reports found “it is still less expensive to run a small city, such as Waterloo, than a larger city such as Kitchener.“ But according to the 1968 municipal affairs department sum- marynof financial reports, the opposite is true. Advocates of amalgamation maintain that taxpayers money would be saved and costs reduced if Kitchener and Waterloo were one city, Amalgamation will be good for progress. It will eliminate duplication. Fiction o Amalgamation can be beneficial when ineffic- ient or uneconomical units are merged. But Kit- chener and Waterloo are efficient administra- tive units. a Staff from both cities have always worked to- gether to prevent duplication of services. The two cities co-operate in everything from police and fire protection to traffic signs. . Bigness is not a guarantee of increased effic- iency. In fact, a study in England shows bigness tends to bring inefficiency. FACT COSTS COMPARED Kitchener $ 10.32 13.21 14.07 Waterloo ' 11.09 12.80 11.30 Kitchener and Waterloo are close geographically but there is "a dramatic difference in temp- rement, operation and physical structure of the municipalities," he said. "But thinking larger munic- ipalities are cheaper to run is just so much hogwash," his letter said, citing as examples the county school boards, the county health unit and the provincial takeover of assessment. Elmira $ 10.20 4.16 10.00 nil 2.23 23.41 nil .27 19.62 19.62 nil nil .76 nil 1.40 11.13 nil .81 1.79 FACT Fiction FACT o The two-tier regional government scheme pro- posed in Dr. Stewart Fyfe's local government review does not call for the amalgamation of Kitchener and Waterloo. 0 The two-tier system (one regional municipality and several local municipalities) has the sup- port of the majority of Waterloo County mun- icipalities-including Waterloo. Taxes will be' lower and services better after am- algamation. 0 Waterloo taxes are already lower than those in Kitchener. Taxes on the average Waterloo home dropped $40 this year and a survey of compar- able housing showed Waterloo taxes an average 36 per cent lower than those in Kitchener. 0 Waterloo services are efficient now. The Wat- erloo area local government review found "the quality of services in the present City of Wat- erloo is good and the city is exceptionally well staffed..." ‘ . Despite its smaller size, Waterloo provides many facilities and services at about the same rate as Kitchener does. The Think Twice Fact Sheet showed that most services in Waterloo are roughly on a par with those in Kitchener if not better. q Amalgamation would provide no more services than are now available through individual or co- operative efforts. Amalgamation is necessary for regional govem- ment. ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF WATERLOO AND KITCHENER REMAINING AS TWO SEPARATE CITIES? Fiction How to separate fact from fiction? That's the problem you face this month before marking your ballot F A CT in the city's poll. Before you decide, look at some of the popular fiction and compare it with facts: ", Waterloo Public Library The treasurer also noted that "in areas where mutual co-opera- tion has been needed, neither municipality has been found lack- ing in co-operation spirit.-" ficiency of Waterloo City staff and said taxpayers have bene- fitted from the traditional rivalry between Kitchener and Waterloo. “It is extrermily difficult to place a dollar-value on this spirit of friendly competition," he wrote. It's a difficult problem because if fiction has been repeated enough it tends to gain acceptance as fact. Waterloo Chronicle, Thursday, Septembet 10, 1970 Fiction Waterloo is not paying its own way, but is taking ad- vantage of services provided by Kitchener. FACT . Waterloo does pay and pays well. Examples: -about 20 per cent of the Conestoga Parkway is in Waterloo but the city is paying about 25 per cent of the Kitchener-Waterloo share of costs. Construction costs per mile in Waterloo were about half of Kitchener's per-mile costs. -Bus service in the Twin Cities is provided by the Kitchener PUC which has the exclusive franchise to operate in Waterloo. Residents in both communities pay the same fares. To ensure quality service Waterloo subsidizes its bus rout- es by $46,000 annually. Kitchener does not. sub- sidize bus service. (The cancellation of the sub- sidy would mean the King Street trolley would be the only bus service in Waterloo.) -Both municipalities are charged on the same basis for capital and operating costs to cover synchronization of traffic signals and painting of traffic lanes. 0 Waterloo's public library is second to none in facilities and accommodation for its patrons and service per capita. Both university librar- ies co-operate and share their facilities when possible with technical personnel. . Waterloo has undertaken downtown redevelop- ment without assistance from senior levels of government. Examples are the city-financed Waterloo Square, and Marland Center, a priv- ately financed renewal project. More recently, Jack Young, past chairman of the Waterloo County Area Planning Board, for- mer member of Kitchener Plan- ning Board and a former Kitch- ener alderman was quoted in the K-W Record as saying that there should not be amalgamation of Kitchener if there is going to be a two-tier regional government in such co-operation included the K-W Hospital, Conestoga Park- way, education and PUC trans- portation.