Lethbridge property tax increase is unacceptable
By Lethbridge Herald on November 23, 2022.
Editor:
I was horrified to hear about the tax increases, taking our tax to a level I never expected to see. The solution is quite simple though, every bit of discretionary spending should be eliminated. The $44 million in bike lanes should be eliminated. Anything to do with issues that are not the City of Lethbridge’s mandate like federal Indigenous issues or provincial addiction issues, should also not be addressed by the City.
You could quickly eliminate enough issues to keep this tax rate down to the minimal amount it should be at by addressing only those services that are critical to the City of Lethbridge. Anything else should be eliminated until the rate of inflation has been addressed. At that time, caution must be paramount as this city has had the highest, or close to the highest tax rates in Alberta. This needs to stop!
Jill Skriver
Lethbridge
6-5
not often onside, jill, but there is much with which to agree in your letter.
I was ok with 3% which became 4 and then 5 my blood pressure rising at every increase. The city likes nice things too bad it’s coming from my wallet.
You have made some very important points, especially the jurisdiction of governments.
The problem is that many have given up on stopping addictions/homeless and now state ‘every other community has these issues so we just have to accept them’, which is a complete cop-out!
As a city we have a choice what happens on our streets, but one big factor that many are afraid of is reconciliation. They are afraid they might step on the wrong toes by enforcing the laws and offend the indigenous, yet it is the indigenous dying on our streets!
We all have had enough, seeing our bus depot and library over-run by indigenous criminals that have been ejected or banished from indigenous communities for their criminal and anti-social behaviours, so we are supposed to deal with it now, but when we do, we are condemned by the very people that kicked these young people off their reserves.
When you calculate all of the police man-hours, which take up many hours per day, the investigations, the fire/EMS responses that are multiple times per day, the equipment maintenance, the city employees cleaning up graffiti, garbage, from the encampments, the committees, Clean Sweep, D.O.T., Puro-Clean, and all the other sub contractors and city supported non-profits and indigenous programs, the cost of multiple location security guards such as Galt Gardens, bus terminal, Civic swimming pool, Casa and other locations to protect from addict/homeless, and funding for security improvements for protection of downtown businesses and other programs it is not hard to see just how our city tax dollars see at least $10 million blown because of the homeless/addiction issues on our streets.
I call it mission creep, where more and more non-profits come in trying to get their piece of the pie, pushing failed programs such as harm reduction, which BC has proven after 19 years to be a complete failure.
It is time to demand police enforce the laws and start protecting our city, the courts start doing their job and the federal and provincial governments start doing their jobs of protecting the people in the province and city and stop burning up our tax dollars on failed programs that enable addicts and homeless. We are allowing a criminal society to grow, a lawless society that will only continue to cost us more every year!
Additionally, in the face of rising taxes, City admin is hiring several new do-nothing employees. Time for a witch hunt through Ciy Hall. Too many redundant, do-nothing jobs there.
You need to study council, their resumes, some have three pensions, one has the best paying job they have had, one has the only job they have ever had. Another with a side job and with 20-30 years on council. Another is retired from another jurisdiction with full pension. Another is a former council member and mayor and retired lawyer. They get a pension, benefits and a health spending account as council members. They could care less about spending and inflation. Doesn’t effect them in the least. Inflation could be running at 25% and they would still hand out 44 million of bike lanes. It’s called out of touch. And this newspaper will do nothing to question them or hold them in account. Numerous former employees of the Herald now work for the City. Even the publisher left for the Garden of Eden, City Hall. We are being fed pablum and gaslit.
I think there are another 4-6 people under the City Hall Indigenous Relations department.
glad you reposted this – well noted.