Dear editor,
Further to 鈥楶lenty to rant about鈥� (Record, May 25), I鈥檝e been trying to cure myself of this affliction; I started a letter a few days ago after I got my tax bill from the regional district, then shelved it.
After reading the well-written piece by L. Wenezenki, here goes:
With the recession and all, we were surprised our assessment in January jumped 17 per cent. Back when we got it, I thought about making some kind of squawk within the allotted time, but knew it was a fool's errand.
Previous experience had shown you might win a battle with BC Assessment, but you will never win the war. Besides, our newly minted CVRD, plus all of its sibling administrations in the Valley of Governments, always feed us taxpayers a cautionary line that 鈥檍ust because your assessment goes up, doesn鈥檛 mean a big tax increase.'
So, what鈥檚 the increase in the actual tax bill this year? Thirty-one per cent over last year. 31 per cent!
Did we get 31 per cent better services from the RD? No.
Did our income go up 31 per cent? No.
Did inflation increase by 31 per cent in one year? No.
Are increases like this sustainable? No.
I would respectfully suggest the entire municipal apparatus in this Valley take a long hard look at yourselves. I include both elected and unelected officials, management and unionized staff.
You are out to lunch, and the people who buy that lunch are getting tired of paying for it.
In other news, how 鈥榖out those Canucks?!?!
Andy MacDougall,
Royston
