Thank you for your editorial last week regarding the recent tax increase to cover anticipated policing costs.
You were mostly accurate, but putting aside half the increase will not help in the end.
I have been trying to come up with a real-life analogy to clarify council’s direction. It seems to me that yourself and many others are thinking we are buying police services like buying a car. That saving up for it will make the purchase easier.
Unfortunately, police services are like all of our other services, electricity, water and sewer. It is an annual consumption cost that is continual.
When electricity costs are announced to go up, do you put money in the bank to pay for this increase? I don’t think so, and I have my doubts that anyone does. Council is taking the same approach.
As a council we know the cost of police services will go up $500,000 – $600,000 in five years. This represents approximately a 45 per cent increase in tax collection to pay this cost.
Rather than raising taxes all at once in five year’s time (a solution not many would like), we are raising taxes incrementally over five years.
The money raised along the way would do next to nothing to “soften” the future bill. But it will prepare us for paying the bill when it comes due.
Instead, council has opted to spend the taxes collected along the way to do projects that would not normally get done, thereby benefitting those people that have paid the taxes.
By increasing taxes each year, taxes will be high enough in five years to cover our policing cost.
We now have the lowest municipal taxes in the Okanagan. I will bet in five years, following this change we will continue to have the lowest municipal taxes in the Okanagan.
I also apologize for not giving complete clarity to the plan I developed for council.
It is difficult to explain but I do hope this clarifies council’s action a little more.
Please remember, councillors are always available to answer questions.
Dave Mattes, Oliver town council
