Dear editor,

I just read that the Comox town council just passed a residential tax rate increase of 4.95 per cent.

One of the councillors is quoted as saying: 鈥淚t鈥檚 high but it鈥檚 unfortunately needed.鈥�

You want to know what鈥檚 needed? We (the long-term residents of the town) need you to stop handing out revitalization tax exemptions. This program is a sham and so unnecessary. The latest project to reap the rewards of this exemption is the condo development at 1700 Balmoral. There are five luxury penthouses in this development priced at a million dollars and more, and the owners are exempt from paying residential taxes for six to eight years.

Other developments get exceptions from three to six to eight years. That鈥檚 a lot of lost revenue.

If you can afford to shell out a million bucks for a condo in downtown Comox, you can afford to pay for all the niceties that go with living in the town.

And don鈥檛 give me the song and dance about how it鈥檚 necessary to encourage development. That does not pass the smell test. You are bleeding the rest of us dry with this program and the town is filling up with people who are not paying their way. Development is still going to happen so we don鈥檛 need you (Comox council) making poor bylaws and policies that help the few and ignore the many.

Barb Tribe,

Comox