I find it extremely alarming in this day and age of global financial crisis when a very recent poll reveals that 70 per cent of Canadians believe we are in a recession right now and Central Alberta is just recovering from the effects of the last recession — that the elected officials who manage our city’s affairs still cannot do so with a balanced budget.
Even with the cash cow of photo radar earning the city an extra $2 million a year, this city council still cannot manage our cities affairs within a budget.
It has become clear over the many years of unbalanced budgets that city council relies on tax increases to property owners to maintain capital expenditures and there is no attempt whatsoever to properly manage spending.
The average home owner within the city also has to maintain a budget and if we are spending more than we make, we can’t just take more money to make up the difference, we have to adjust our budget and spend less.
Why can’t our city council learn these basics of household finance and manage our city and our money within the same reality framework that the taxpayers have to live?
I know of very few people who get an annual raise to help them keep up with these annual tax increases.
Where does city council think we keep getting the money from, year after year after year? It comes out of my grocery money and my savings money, because there simply isn’t any extra.
It’s become a spending habit with this council, a tax increase every single year in this fashion is not sustainable for the average family in this day and age.
There simply has to be an end in sight.
Duke Hanson
Red Deer