Go Ahead -- Laugh and Jeer. The Last Laugh May Be On You !

What should we make of the effort on the part of some city politicians and local columnists to portray individuals and organizations as kooks and weirdos, lacking credibility because they dare to express concern with the high level of property tax rates in Ottawa ?

Should we back off, stifle ourselves -- as Archie Bunker used to say ? Or should we keep up the campaign ?

It's interesting to note once the word got out that the Ottawa Taxpayers' Advocacy Group was planning a series of bus ads on the subject of property taxes, the city's largest union -- CUPE 503 -- immediately sprang into action with an ad campaign of its own. CUPE 503 must have a huge war chest as it can afford TV ads during prime time. A favorite spot is on Ottawa's most watched newscast -- with Max and Carol Anne at 6 p.m. on CTV. These spots don't come cheap. Could it be that CUPE 503 is worried ? Is this a sign that Ottawa's property tax fighters are gaining an audience and rather than lacking in credibility, they're building up a base of like-minded citizens?

Citizen Ellie is not ashamed to admit she voted for Larry O'Brien. Not because she believed in "zero means zero". That was unrealistic and she knew it. Instead, she wanted to see someone in the mayor's chair who had some business smarts, who would run city hall like a business, who would treat taxpayers as shareholders and not as cash cows to be milked in order to please every special interest group that comes along, looking for a handout.

What's wrong with expecting the city to act like every other enterprise in these tough economic times --tighten budgets and decrease expenditures. Common sense dictates that's what you have to do during a recession. Lord knows we've all had to do it at home and at our place of business -- unless city hall's your place of business. (Rumor has it that belt-tightening and expenditure control have even come to major media outlets-- which makes it hard for us ordinary folk to understand why applying the concept at city hall would be so foreign.)

Instead, we've had to listen to the same old guff from columnists and "he who wants to be mayor", Councillor Alex Cullen. We're told that our taxes are high because the province downloaded social programs such as housing and welfare on to the municipalities. True -- the formula is 80% paid by province, 20% paid by the municipality. Every Ontario municipality has had to deal with this. It's not unique to Ottawa. But Ottawa didn't have to exceed the 20% mandated by the province. That was a decision taken by our overly-generous city council.

We're told the feds don't pay their share. We get grants in lieu of taxes. City pols and columnists wail that if property tax was paid on every federal building in the city, more revenue would flow into city hall and our property taxes would be less. That mouldy oldie's been around forever. But nobody talks about the extras for which Ottawans would have to pay if we weren't the nation's capital. Do you honestly believe there would be five world-class museums, a world class art gallery, a world class performing arts centre, an experimental farm, manicured parks, flower-lined parkways and a national park within a half-hour's drive if the tab for all these amenities wasn't being picked up by the taxpayers of Canada ?

City council approved a 4.9% increase in property tax this year. But nobody -- city pols or columnists -- talks about the "hidden" revenue which flooded into the city's coffers as a result of the lifting of the provincial freeze on market value assessments in January. The 4.9% increase is small beer compared to the double-digit tax increases seen in the older sections of the city where market value assessment has had a dramatic effect on property tax levels . Just wait until next year -- market value assessments will increase once again and you may find yourself in the unfortunate position where your property tax exceeds your mortgage payment. Can't happen ? Don't be so sure. Will you be able to sell your house for its asessed value ? Don't be too sure of that either. One thing you can be sure of -- there will be no tax refund if you don't.

So what is council spending our money on ? Perhaps the new finance and audit committee will shed some light on why we're being taxed into the poorhouse -- if they can get their act together.

Thanks to attending some meetings during the budget process last fall,Citizen Ellie knows why. Councillors listen with interest when special interest group representatives take the microphone, but their eyes glaze over when someone tries to plead the taxpayers' case.

Electoral Reform ? Not !

Kingston's city council rejected a proposal to eliminate the ward system and elect councillors-at-large by a 9-4 vote at its July 14 meeting.

Proponents of the change say they're going to make it an issue when the next municipal election rolls around in November 2010.

Something's not right about leaving question of electoral reform to be decided by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Naturally they're not going to favor any change which might affect their prospects of re-election.

A better way would be to allow the electors to have a say -- by putting a proposition on the ballot at election time. Wouldn't cost much and might have the benefit of generating more interest in municipal elections where voter turnout can be described as dismal at best.

Summer postings usually on Mondays