To the Editor,
Re: Nanaimo needs to grow in order to prosper, Letters, Dec. 17.
I would argue the author of that piece has the order mixed up. In fact Nanaimo needs to prosper in order to grow.
While all the benefits the author cites would be all well and good if the city could afford them and we had the population to support them; none of that will come to pass if the City of Nanaimo doesn’t do something to encourage businesses and industry to setup shop here, and do things to assist existing Nanaimo businesses so they can succeed.
Currently Nanaimo is somewhere in the top three in terms of the highest municipal taxes and fees, in the entire province. And by top three, I really mean bottom. That is not a position that entices people to move here, or industry to grow here. So unless something is done to get the city’s fiscal situation under control, and taxes are lowered instead of raised, there frankly isn’t going to be a lot of growth outside of people retiring here.
While the city will no doubt tout their recently reduced tax rates for businesses, people who work here still have to live here.
Brendan Millbankvia e-mail