MARK-ALAN WHITTLE
Embrace change … make it work                                         CONTACT MARK
HISTORICAL TAX IMBALANCE LIMITS GROWTH

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Hamilton Spectator
Amalgamation has provided a golden opportunity to embrace a cost effective form of governance that will ensure our prosperity in the future.
Our municipal employees have been empowered to let their ideas for service delivery and tax savings take flight. We could break free from the general malaise that has hampered our economic growth and created a staggering sum of accumulated debt.
No wonder we are the highest taxed municipality in Ontario. Our present council's appalling lack of leadership has left our municipal employees constantly trying to enforce a mish mash of policies enacted by regional politicians that defy logic. After all, what is the point of spending millions on beautifying our harborfront when the water is too polluted to allow our children to swim in it?
Tightening and enforcing environmental regulations at the source is more cost effective. Making generators comply and fix the pollution in a timely fashion should be the order of the day. With the lowest unemployment rate in Ontario, I find it alarming more than 20 per cent of our local communities' children live below the poverty line.
For years and years, blue-sky spending in the city of Hamilton has outpaced regional government's debt retirement, hamstringing local government's ability to lower taxes. Further, certain taxpayers such as renters have been unfairly penalized by historic imbalances exposed by actual value property assessment.
High taxes and accumulated debt limit economic growth and made it very hard for low-income seniors to keep their homes and apartment dwellers to break free from paying three times the rate that homeowners pay in property taxes. When a renter's petition for lower property taxes was presented to council for action, it was blatantly ignored and renters' taxes were actually increased, negating the decrease afforded by actual value assessment fairness legislated by the Mike Harris government. I promise to work tirelessly on behalf of renters and low-income seniors who have been hurt by this historic taxation imbalance. We need to bring fairness back into the equation.
Why let cynicism and apathy at the ballot box enable the incumbent and his illusions to continue for another term? You must embrace change to ensure your prosperity in the future.
When elected as councilor, I will take you there during my term of office through strong fiscal management, aggressive debt retirement, energetic leadership and the resolve to carry it through.