In terms of popularity, taxes might rank right up there with ... well, nothing.
Nobody likes talking about taxes and they sure don't like paying them. And you can be absolutely sure that politicians don't like raising taxes, lest they feel the wrath of the voting public.
That's why we have to offer grudging respect to the members of city council for their decision to raise taxes during their May 6 meeting. As was reported in last week's edition of The Mercury, council passed a motion to raise taxes by two mills, which is roughly a 10 per cent hike. In making the decision council basically said their hand was forced by the upcoming projects to rebuild the north leg of Highway 47 through the city. The work is expected to cost around $4 million.
Although the City is splitting the costs with the province, that is still a substantial amount of money for a municipal government to come up with. They could have borrowed the money, but that really wouldn't have been a practical solution, especially with their debt limit much too high already. There were likely other avenues that could have been taken, but most of them would have been akin to putting a bandage over a bullet wound.
No, the only real move for council was to raise taxes, as unpopular or, as Mayor Roy Ludwig said, unsavoury, a decision it might be.
The increase will net more than $1.7 million in additional tax revenue this year, all of which will probably go towards the Highway 47 rebuild. Where this decision will pay off is down the road when the City has that extra revenue to tackle other pressing projects. As we all know, there is a healthy backlog of work and, as we are painfully learning this year, there is always a surprise or two that pops up. Ludwig said there should also be some extra money to pay down debt, which is never a bad thing.
As much as council deserves some praise for the tough decision, it's tough to get too warm and fuzzy when you think about the events that led to this point.
For far too many years the council of the day couldn't see past the next election and refused to raise taxes. It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback but in light of our current infrastructure plight, the lack of foresight shown by council and senior administration in the late 1990s and early 2000s is mind boggling. Sure, they didn't raise taxes, but they also allowed our infrastructure to crumble and here we are today, paying for that inaction and lack of planning.
And boy, are we paying.
This council seems dedicated to a long-term plan of getting Estevan's infrastructure back in shape. We only hope they follow through with this plan because the inaction of the past cannot be allowed to be repeated in the future.
On the topic of talking about taxes, it seems fairly clear that council would be among those who do not like speaking on this subject and others.
The decision to pass the motion was accompanied by almost no discussion from council. Ludwig and Councillor Greg Hoffort were the only two members to speak about the decision and it was obvious all of the debate was carried out behind closed doors. Does council feel residents don't deserve to hear some of that debate?
One of the hallmarks of the previous council was a terrible lack of debate about serious matters. When an important motion came up, it was usually voted on and passed in little or no time. One hand was needed to count the number of actual discussions on important topics in open council - the great crumb rubber debate of 2011 aside.
If council expects the public to get behind its decisions, perhaps it would be wise to allow the public to hear about them in open council. We in the media do what we can to keep the public informed, but the reason cameras are allowed in chambers is so people can hear what goes into decisions such as raising taxes.
This current council is off to a solid start after making what will not likely be a popular move for some taxpayers. Injecting some much-needed transparency into the process would be another step in the right direction.
