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Amalgamation still not a good idea Some people throughout the region we've been in rnman wnh arc now saying that muniripalnios against amalgamation should 1mm up and thrcalt'n thr province that they will try to separate' and form their own province' ' Toronto did run that long agn The idea may hv wnrth rmmd cring if the ties Kitchener pnlilir cians have In [hr Ontario Lilli-ml gnwmmt'm hvrtrntt. a threat m lhv indcpt'ndcno' of thow muniripah ties who want to slay wpamtn At approximarvly I HIS mm an [um' 13. 2000 11m mnxidr of kits h rum rnunnl t hamlrcrs. the follow All one has lo do is look at the mess that Toronto and Hamilton are in to see that amalgamation IN not the way In go The City of Hamilton in parlifll' lar, is asking the province [or money this year just to bah-nu- their hudget. lt has been "tade rorv clear lhal Kitchener politicians haw nut learned their lossnn from thc ml» takes of others and thry should hr held accountable m that, e‘rv no! turr1vir1ced that Wimalgumminn is neither efficient nur UN effcctive In the residents ofWuterloo Region. This will expunge the moist air you and your passenger exhale con- tinuously from the car through the rear air vents. replacing it with dry air from outside. This way the moist air won) Corr dense and freeze up on the cold Federal budget a Budget increase a necessary evil good step for cities Rggarding Andrea Bailey's rant bout car leasing in the March 24 Chronicle. I would like to offer a tip to prevent frosting of the win- dows on the inside. Chances are that you have the air circulation control sol to recircu- late the air inside the car. To prevent frosting the outside air vent should be open. That means more headway should be made on local road pro- jects such as the widening of North- field Drive. the Westmount exten- sion, improvements to Bridge Street, and the construction of Ira Needles Boulevard on the City's west side. alerloo regional council Wpassed us budget last week, and approved an increase of 4.05 per cent The figure was higher than some councillors would have liked to see. Meanwhile. other councillors believe the increase is a necessary evil to keep the region functioning at a reasonable pace. The bulk of the increase will be used to beef up police presence across the municipality. and to improve roads. Offering some tips for a safer drive Whrn politicians make mis lakes, smm‘timm to thor her). it IN rather unfortunate that the pub In often Inn's for It, ing question abmil amalgamation With posed to Kitchener Mayor Carl Zchr. "There will not he any tax savings In the residents ofWaterlou Region. including the City of kitch- snot, will more?" His reply In the question was. "The pcoplc will hm‘nmr awn» tamed lo the fart that higher slaw dams of living am usually associate rd with higher tons" as dcvvlopvrs, God only knows [hr kinds of rcwards they gm which no our I-lw finds tun itlmut, writ like In at? a (“W of lr‘gisla tion (Tomi-d that would give rili lf‘ll\ the right lo file lawsuits against politicians that would haw thcm mkr rvsponsitulity for thcir :Irlinnx In Waterloo',, raw Ilus would give Walc‘rlun rmidmns the nghl to um thaw who “rt-n, in trfTictw at thc limr of RIM Park. and suppnrlml II In Our Opinion. it is may for him In saw When politicians "vromplish things hkr amalgamation for the sakc of spcciitl intcrest gmups such Setting the controls so that the air flow is split between the wind, shield and the foot compartment also helps. To compensate for cold air being drawn in. the heat control may have to be set a bit higher. There is plenty of heating capacity in the heating system in keep the car comfortable. even with cold air being brought in continuously. The starter problem on a seven- month-old car is a warranty issue. If it is intermittent it would be diffi- cult far the dealer's service people to pinpoint the problem. The state- glass And let's face it. with the crime and tragedy that's been in the news lately. every region could stand to add more police officers to the streets. The rest of the increase will go towards public transit expansion, additional programs for infectious diseases, and economic promotion ofthe region. Expanding transit will in turn improve air quality in a region that's consistently ranked as one of the smoggiest in the summer months. Regional Coun. Jane Mitchell said it best. With the growth the region is experiencing. council can't afford to wait to gel the ball rolling on these projects and others ht the law of amalgamation, wa- Ahd with the nicer weather on its - , or' “ T f f A _ I i. .g, I' ', .. a , i [7 l m n iT/ii'i7i'i?ii Iteliexw that residents would have PVPry right lo sue Kitchener Mayor Carl 20hr and other amalgamation supporters for the one“; associated with amalgamation, as well as the t'nsls of deramalgamming what wmlld he the "PW megacily back lo thc Iwwlivr guwrnnwnl prvs'om before. Residents should also hold them liable for higher car insurance rams after amalgamation “hr Jargvr tht' mun'rcipalrty,thr, more the rm insurance). and other hiddcn UNIS that ptoliticiarv, heem In ("nut nientlv avoid. These politiriuns should alsn he suvd for thc mnnlimml stress, and anxiety the avrmgr pvrsnn would cxpericntw duo In highrr Hun-s from the merw'r. or whatccer thc (use may he There is no reason whatsovvcr why residents of Walvrlnn Rrginn should pay for iamalgamauoi. cspt'cially if it orrurrml again“ their Own will. You may have to do some kick, ing and screaming at a higher level or fmd out through the Automobile Protection Association whether this make of car experiences this prob- lem more than usual. ment that this is just the make of the car is BS. Stuff like that does not go bad any more these days unless there is a real problem that should be fixed. A fine start. But it's good to see more money will be spent on con- trolling the spread of this annual health headache, Aftér " you get what you pay for in life. way. 30 is the annual risk [or West Nile virus. Last week regional council got the prevention process started by approving a program that includes bird. mosquito and human surveil, lance, as well as public education. larval surveillance and mosquito control measures. The bottom line is that if citizens want to maintain the service levels they're used to enjoying. as well as the health and viability of the region as a whole. they must be prepared to cough up the cash. l I l {I} g": , i t _ at rs? Nicholas Ermeta, Hunhndgr and kulrsgr Fort-nu Km hr'm'r Hartmut Kayser Waterloo The old mp-down modvl ofour fvdcraiion mwds a shaktmp Ihru's why the GST and infrastructure artntrtuwetttet1P, an- it good beginning. Hopcfully a good will gmum' on how lill' foil "ral gnvr'rnmt‘nl is rnmmim‘tl to reshaping ( ialiadian federal N11. The most promising part of the li-(li'ral "udget fur our municipalities was the pledge that Ottawa wnuld Mart discus s,iorrs with the pmvinrrsnn how tities rnuld sharp in Ilw fem-r al governments $4 f, "illion-iryear gasoline tax. This is " tax that is dircrtly linkt'd to mnnmmt' ('xpansmn and will prm'idr cities with " reuCettlt. slrl-mn that is mnn' flrxiltle and will pnu-niinllv provide nmrv n-u-nur. murs- quit My. than "ms-tvires In Inull plnlwilv lax imml \‘nur 'itit"s1ior1sjrut1rtu'r1t', 1n sean6ihrieanstricklandsom New deal for cities is needed Cities need a snuru- of nwcnuv othvr than property lax, uwr fees. and bylaw infractions to mom thc nccds ot the future Take it drive this spring down any slrvol. in any (humil- an [own and Wu will quickly nmin' by the numhvr and size of potholes that our infrastructure needs some rvpair. Tho federal governmcr1fs advancing of infrastructure dollars, is a gout! Mart, hut this does nut fundamentally address the largvr fiscal qut'slinn. Municipalities have long argued , N 7 _ that they are cash-strapped and that t, constantly hiking property taxes pro- ' " vides an inadequate and inflexible source of revenue. Property taxes are SEAN largely static - they don't grow at the STRICKLAND same pace as the overall economy. Federal and provincial governments see massive increases in revenue when the economy is doing well. Both income tax and sales tax expand as people earn more money and buy more things. Cities have been largely left out of this increased rev- enue when it is most often the economic environment created by cities that helped generate the increased tax revenue in the first place. Income tax, provincial sales tax and the GST are taxes which arguably reflect the ability of the taxpayer to pay. For example, the more you earn and the more you spend. the more tax you pay. Property taxes on the other hand are taxes on the value of property and are blind lo the ability of the owner of the property to pay. Many seniors who live on fixed incomes also live in proper- ties that have inrrezised substantially in value over the years. The property value has increased. but the income of the home owner has not. Irhen municipalities raise taxes, they are often (axing people who have not experienced any income growth from their pensions or in some cases may even have declining household inform-s, This argumen1 ran also he made for the small business owner who either owns or ren1s his or her premises. ho either way has to absorb thc Increased lax cost when his or her business may he struggling with less revenue than in previous years. Owners of an average home valued at 5183.000 will already see their taxes go up by 553 because of market value assess- ment. The Region of Waterloo just completed their budget and hiked taxes by 4.05 per cent. adding an average of $46 to the local property F' 7 " _ lax hill. The provincial government S] RICKLY 1 has vet to announce its lans for the education portion of 1/d,rfr't,iJl,r, tax SPEAKING bill, and the City of Waterloo is still - working on finalizing its 2004 budget. e , Add it all up, throw in increases for , k water and water treatment, and the 1 owner of an average home can expect a "I C , " a tax increase of around $125. 1 , A31 , I Nhis past week's federal budget, which once held such promise of a new deal for Canada's cities, was much more subdued than substantive. Mired in the sponsorship scandal, the government fell compelled lo deliver a budget that was much more focused on iscal restraint and spending accountability than on hold visionary measures to reshape our country. The budget did take some steps towards recognizing the challenges faced by municipalities by formalizing the earlier announcement of exempting cities from the goods and ser- vices tax (CST). This exemption will save all local governments across Canada approximately $600 million a year. The federal government also announced that money for infrastructure (roads. sewer and water systems, housing] would come sooner than originally planned. The CST eiaimption will save local governments millions of dollars a year. but don't expect that savings to show up in reduced property tax bills. S'I‘RICKLY SPEAKING r,'tri7, SEAN STRICKLAND