The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Taxpayers have been keeping such close tabs on city council's spending, it seems, that almost every new expenditure is met with skepticism. But sometimes _ more than sometimes, in fact _ the new expenditures are literally forced by circumstance. What was council to do, for instance, when water-logged ceiling tiles began crashing to the floor of the R.H. Channing Auditorium this past spring? The only options were to close the auditorium to the public, lest someone suffer injury or worse, or fix the problem by mending the leaky roof overhead. What was council to do when the RCMP vacated the Flin Flon detachment building in 2012/13, in part because of a leaky roof? Again it comes down to shutting down the building or dealing with the problem. The RCMP cannot be coerced into staying in a facility they deem unsatisfactory. And what is council to do when a leaky pipe leaves one block or even one home without water? They can either direct crews to dig into the pavement to rectify the problem immediately, or start sealing off areas of the community to anyone who drinks water and likes to bathe. It's easy to get flustered by the constant DETOUR signs that pop up around town when city crews work to locate and patch a faulty water or sewer pipe. But when it's your home or business on the benefitting end of that digging, you aren't complaining. Impossiblea Cutting spending on these sorts of projects is impossible, and no one knows for sure when the next emergency will strike. Which means council must, more than ever, eat into non-emergency spending in a responsible fashion. Some on council might argue that it also means the need for new revenue has never been greater. Hence plans, not yet enacted, for higher taxes on low-end homes and a mill rate boost for everyone. Regardless of the harsh financial realities facing the city, council has not picked a good time to try and retrieve extra dollars from residents' pockets. For one, the NDP government that Flin Flonners helped re-elect has already been doing that with surprisingly little regard for the political consequences. The NDP's constant, hefty hikes to our hydro bills, not to mention their jacking up gas taxes in 2012 and the PST in 2013, are certainly making us feel less generous with our money. For another, the city's utility bills _ those green slips you get in your mailbox four times a year _ are about to go up, then possibly up some more. No one can say for sure how high the green slips will rise, but with the city about to commission its massive new water treatment plant, the increase is likely to be far greater than is reasonable. If council fails to restrict non-emergency spending in its upcoming budget _ and in a palpable way _ there are going to be a lot of angry taxpayers. And you know what? They'll have every right to be angry. Local Angle runs Fridays. By Jonathon Naylor
