To the editor,
Re: Municipalities decide not to access reserves for tax relief, May 13.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the household incomes of thousands of families within the City of Nanaimo. In view of this fact, I believe it is time to give the beleaguered taxpayers of Nanaimo a break. The proposed 4.5-per cent increase should be cancelled. And property taxes across the board should be reduced by at least 10 per cent.
How will the city make up the shortfall? It is time for the fat-cat bureaucrats to belly up to the bar and take a cut in their egregiously high salaries; likewise for the rest of the city employees who enjoy employment benefits that are virtually non-existent in the private sector. ‘We are all in this together’ seems to be the popular catchphrase these days. Perhaps it is time for the city employees to share some of the financial pain that many of the rest of us are feeling.
Ron Jarvis, Nanaimo
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To the editor,
Re: Municipalities decide not to access reserves for tax relief, May 13.
There will obviously be no tax relief for Lantzville taxpayers this year, in spite of a pandemic and an economic disaster.
It is my opinion that neither staff, nor council, are adept at budgeting. They are raising taxes higher than anywhere I ever heard of in B.C. and won’t use the reserve in spite of an emergency, which would be exactly what they should be used for.
There is no restraint. Veterans and pensioners will be lucky if they receive a two per cent pay rise. Where are they supposed to get 20 per cent? Some might say this amounts to elder abuse.
Harry Adcock, Lantzville
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