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Niagara Falls
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Letter: Development issues pale in comparison to rising taxes
Opinion. FILE

Dear editor:

I respectfully disagree with Kevin MacLean’s contention that development pressures remain NOTL’s biggest issue.

While these pressures are real and a challenge to any growing community they pale in comparison to the unsustainable tax increases imposed on us over the last few years.

Fortunately, it is not too late for council to back away from this year’s proposed 14.4 per cent increase and instruct town management to formulate a budget much closer to the current two per cent inflation rate.

In a previous letter, I listed a number of tangible changes that could and should be implemented as part of this process (“Letter: Here’s how council can avoid the 14.4 tax hike,” Dec. 4, 2024). These changes would not be easy, but they are possible and absolutely essential.

Perhaps the most obvious of them is a hiring freeze and although this has now been proposed by Coun. Wendy Cheropita, Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa apparently doesn’t even support this modest measure and still wants to see all positions filled.

But here’s the financial reality: If the proposed increase goes through, Zalepa will have presided over the biggest three-year tax increase in the history of NOTL. A truly staggering increase of almost one-third: 32.37 per cent, to be precise.

How can anyone think this is sustainable and how can council consider it remotely acceptable to the citizens of NOTL they were elected to represent?

I would suggest that the combination of unsustainable tax increases and no serious attempts to reign in spending represents a financial crisis. I hope that a majority of council are prepared to act to restore financial sanity.

Jonathan Household
Old Town

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