'It's ridiculous': Langford mayor defends proposed 12% property tax hike
'It's ridiculous': Langford mayor defends proposed 12% property tax hike
A proposed 12 per cent property tax increase for Langford residents isn’t sitting well with many.
The public will get the opportunity to give its thoughts on Langford’s draft budget on Thursday night at a committee of the whole meeting.
"It’s just several large ticket items that just came to us," said Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson on Thursday afternoon.
Those items include funding for four new police officers, nine new firefighters, six new staff at Langford City Hall, general inflation and the doubling of Langford’s financial support for the YMCA/YWCA.
"Even with that jump, we’re still the fourth lowest taxes in the CRD, and we’re the third largest city," said Goodmanson.
Former Langford mayor Stew Young says an increase of this magnitude never would have happened under his and past council's watch.
"It’s ridiculous and not warranted," said Young.
Young says over the last 30 years, tax increases in Langford have averaged two per cent per year. Taxes were kept low through a community amenity fund, paid for by developers.
"Development, as it comes to Langford, paid amenity fees to reduce the taxes to the existing residents so that they wouldn’t have to pay over the cost of living at any time," said Young.
Now the city is doing away with using that amenity fund to subsidize property taxes.
"The five year plan is to reduce and stop using general amenity funds because there’s not much left in that account," said Goodmanson.
The mayor says there is only about $2.5-million left in the account.
"You don’t want to constantly rely on that," he said.
Young says he’s hearing some developers are no longer looking to invest in Langford, meaning replenishing that amenity fund could be challenging for the new council.
Municipalities across the region are facing higher tax increases this year as well.
Saanich is looking at a 7.1 per cent tax increase, Oak Bay is projecting a nine per cent rise and Nanaimo is eyeing a 7.3 per cent increase.
With the cost of almost everything going up, people are feeling the pinch.
Many in Langford say a 12 per cent increase on their property taxes could be their breaking point.
Four children were found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. on Saturday after they were swept away by the tide in a fishing incident. One man is still missing, while six other people were rescued.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Pope Francis warned the Vatican's missionary fundraisers on Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship.
Canada is open to the idea of including a requirement to cut back on the production of plastic in a new global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
Four children were found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. on Saturday after they were swept away by the tide in a fishing incident. One man is still missing, while six other people were rescued.
Toronto police say the five suspects involved in a stabbing at Kennedy Station Friday night that left a man in critical condition are between the ages of 12 and 15 years old.
It's the start of a new season at Moraine Lake and for the first time, you will have to take a shuttle bus to access the famous landmark -- no matter how early you're willing to show up.
Four children were found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. on Saturday after they were swept away by the tide in a fishing incident. One man is still missing, while six other people were rescued.
Police are investigating the "suspicious death" of a man discovered shot dead in downtown Montreal Saturday. According to the SPVM, a man was found around 7:50 a.m. inside an apartment on Saint-Catherine and Beaudry Streets, in Montreal's Gay Village.
A Halifax-area wildfire that forced thousands of residents from their homes over the past week is 85 per cent contained and no longer spreading, officials said Saturday morning.
Evacuees at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena in Barrington, N.S., are out of the fire zone but now face their own battle — how to cope with so much uncertainty, and what lies ahead.
With two Federal by-elections around the corner in Manitoba, party leaders hit the campaign trail to appeal to voters in Portage-Lisgar and Winnipeg South Centre.
A late spring heat wave is prompting the Region of Waterloo to remind residents of the need to conserve water when possible as the annual water conservation bylaw takes effect.
The City of Regina has a three-phase approach to address the flooding that occurs at the downtown underpasses during most heavy rainfalls, including Thursday night’s storm.
Eight years ago, the Regina Police Service (RPS) embarked on a facility dog program. Now, one of its first recruits officially retired from her career.
Just after noon on Feb. 4, Barrie police received a 911 call from staff at a grocery store on Blake Street, where a woman had fled from a man's vehicle after he committed "serious and violent" offences against her.
Police charged three men, believed to be members of a street gang, with the attempted murder of a 65-year-old man who was shot 13 times while walking his dog in Schomberg in February.
A Sudbury teacher accused of having sex with a student has been found guilty of professional misconduct by the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers.
