Council needs to make life in Lethbridge more affordable
By Lethbridge Herald on October 26, 2022.
Editor:
So the city wants to increase property taxes over the next four years by 15 per cent. As it is, we have some of the highest property taxes in Alberta.
The only things new I have noticed are all the new city vehicles and the revitalization of the downtown core, which most people avoid due to the unpredictable environment. Not to mention the frustrating parking meters downtown and charging parking at the Enmax where College students are already on a fixed income.
The City is currently pushing citizens to take Lethbridge Transit instead of driving, but the current transit system in Lethbridge is horrendous. Forty-minute wait times are not acceptable. Lethbridge city council needs some major reforms and an update on how hard it is for Albertans right now. Try fixing the current issues in Lethbridge first by making it affordable for citizens to live. The cost of living is already out of control. Don’t make it any harder for the people of Lethbridge!
Andrew Kereliuk
Lethbridge
7-6
To require that the city continue with declining revenue in real dollars, people need to identify which services they no longer want and/or which services they would like to reduce.
Agreed…”The UCP government slashed funding in the first year by 24% and another 32% in the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA). We, live in a rural municipality, which has also faced these funding cuts (and thus, increased taxes) by the UCP on top of the $hundreds of thousands/millions still owing in unpaid taxes by the oil and gas industry. The UCP does not get our vote. We will be voting for the NDP’s Kevin Van Tighem in the Livingston-Macleod riding, a worthy candidate, indeed, and who represents awesome expertise with regard to our opposition to open pit coal mining in this area and its threat to our waters, and a sane, even approach to Alberta affairs overall.
A worthy candidate, indeed!
You have nailed it. Too bad so many of these ignorant seniors aren’t that smart. You can’t sit on you ass and watch these Reformers helping their rich friends steal our wealth and not expect to have to pay for it in property taxes. It’s a well known fact that on average Alberta has the highest in Canada thanks to what these Reformers, starting with Ralph Klein has done to us.
Did it ever occur to you that the 70 billion dollar debt left by those you will vote for and the nine month stifling of the resource industry wasn’t going to result in debt reduction. You are a non critical thinker and have voted NDP all your life. Go pour some milk out at the grocery store and you’ll feel better.
Why is it that guys like you aren’t smart enough to understand that no one was going to fix the mess these fake conservative created in 25 years starting with Ralph Klein by not spending a lot of money and why have you ignored that fact that your friend Jason Kenney has increased it to $115 billion in a lot less time than Notley did by helping his rich friends screw us out of our oil and tax revenues? Not only did Notley inherit an existing debt she inherited a $60 billion deficit. How would you build 55 new schools without spending any money? I can show you 4 she built in my neighborhood that we desperately needed.
Whining about $70 billion while ignore the $260 Billion orphan well cleanup mess we face thanks to your hero Klein doesn’t make you look very smart , does it?
Grin, your response of ” tell me what you want cut” is the standard refrain of those who want to keep their pockets padded and are unwilling to admit there is waste and needless spending on woke and trendy virtue statements that add up in the long run. The same level of service [ or lack thereof] could be had by selective reduction of the major expense in any City, that being staffing. Too many people pretending to do a job that could be handled by one person instead of five….
each election, we elect a bevvy of folk that assure voters of responsible fiscal management and blah blah blah. 15% tax increase over just 4 years?! responsible? well above near anything that a person will receive in employment income raises…except, maybe, if one has a city/taxpayer funded job, right?
seems to me if the city wasn’t always looking to fund so many niche projects, let alone the pocket lining…might it not now be a time to exercise quite a bit of restraint and tend only to our most pressing needs for the next few years?
why will the city not conduct audits?
No collect proper royalties and taxes like lawyers, accountants, bankers, oilmen and former MLAs have stated over the years. Those of us from the world of finance know Albertans have been screwed out of about $800 Billion when you add up oil, gas, and tax revenues lost because of these Reformers. Alaska and Norway weren’t dumb enough to do it. Notley was trying to bring our corporate taxes and royalties back up to the Lougheed levels and look what happened to her. Mindless Albertans, mostly seniors, expected her to fix the mess in 4 years what these Reform Party fools starting with Klein created in 25 and it couldn’t be done. Now they want to elect Danielle Smith who our retired lawyers state will put seniors in financial ruin and at her recent gathering in Edmonton who were supporting her ? Seniors of course?
you are correct. and, while your point takes on the provincial govt, that level of govt does indeed have a significant impact on our city finances.
our city has long, long needed auditing, and we absolutely need to stop spilling money. 15% property tax increase over 4 years is way too much.
Why is it always the cities fault when you have a Premier cutting $9.4 billion off corporate taxes to benefit his rich friends, after Notley had increased them by $4.7 billion to try to get us back up to the Lougheed levels? Kenney has made it impossible for his government to provide our municipalities with proper funding so we don’t see this happening. How many of these whiners elected Jason Kenney and have now elected Danielle Smith who is already promising to make it a lot worse. Don’t forget Alaskans pay no state taxes, and their property taxes are next to nothing and every man , woman and child has received around $46,000. each since 1982 in total annual oil dividend cheques. In fact over the past 5 years they have received $6,142. while Albertans have watched these reformers help their rich friends steal theirs. Where is the intelligence in that?
Google: Alaska Permanent Fund if you don’t believe me?
So tell us, just who the Alaska Permanent Fund share there money. Oh yes, no one in New York or California, but my oh my with the residents of Alaska alone. I have seen the cheques. More drivel and rants from the usual suspects based on emotion and not intelligent commentary. Sounds like a civil servant round table.
Why are you still believing the Ralph Klein lie that Alberta is broke because we have had to sent billions of dollars to Ottawa and Quebec in the form of equalization payments when Alberta has never sent a penny? There are dozens of articles proving it isn’t true but you would rather believe the Reform Party liars. Of course if you had bothered to pull up the article on the Alaska Permanent Fund you would have seen that I was right. I think our lawyer friends are right we should just start hauling you fools into court so you can show us how smart you really are, what do you think?
Maybe you had better google this but then I doubt you will you can’t handle the truth, you aren’t man enough.
“Debunked: Alberta Doesn’t Send the Most Money To Ottawa”
how can one be so stuck on a “party” to the extent that one fails to see what that “party” has done to impoverish alberta? the “cons”/ucp have done very well to enrich the most well placed in the oil/gas sector (as well as numerous ministers and bureaucrats etc), but has allowed the vast vast majority of the wealth to be drained from us. moreover, the “party” you blindly attach to has left us with massive billions in orphan well and toxic lakes of oil byproduct sludge worth of clean up costs. moreover still, your “party” has chosen to look the other way with regard to collecting another bounty worth of unpaid taxes by the robber barons. are you really so ignorant of the realities?
Not stuck on any party. Just pointing out facts.
Blah blah blah. Turn off your lights and furnace, hang up the I phone park your car. You can do it.
lol you are so stuck. no one is saying we do not have a need for energy. the issue is sustainability, responsibility, integrity and accountability – all lacking considerably among the ucp/”cons” and the oil robber barons. how do you and the like justify the massive toxic dumps left for the already ripped off public to pay for? ditto the orphan wells and the uncollected taxes owing from robber barons, which the ucp/”cons” consistently choose to pretend are not an issue. btw – not sure where phones come in, but seeing as you brought them up, the navel gazing, diddle devices we call phones today are significant enviro issue far more than any measure at all of salvation.
More affordable… let’s see, we can increase parking fines…..