Casey Edge’s article on government “downloading” was exactly right

Last week, Casey Edge of the Victoria Residential Builders Association wrote an opinion piece on how governments continue to treat our industry as an ATM machine, with development fees, carbon taxes and other levies preferred to increases in municipal taxes that are more visible to the general public. Here is one reply from a Victoria, BC-area resident…

Exactly right, Casey. I Sat through the North Cowichan Council meeting on Wednesday,  listening to council scrambling to keep the tax increase below 3.05%. It was to be 3.50% but (surprise) the growth rate was 1.35% instead of the predicted 1.25%. Council said if we can find $30,000 somewhere we can reduce it to 2.95%. I asked immediately after that circuitous debate, “Why are we taxing 0.5% for the CAEP – Climate Action Energy Plan (collected since February 2013 – six years with no end date). The CAEP Reserve Fund in 2017 was $ 348,593. In 2018, $492,000 – with NO real plan to “reduce emissions” in North Cowichan… Justice in local government? We have a shortage of homes. Solutions?

Joyce Benson