Dear editor:

In your Aug. 1 story, “Protesting residents want council to understand the ‘vocal majority’,” Jeannie Manning is quoted as saying that, if the justification is that taxes would increase for everyone if development does not occur, “to lose our heritage and to build hotels in residential areas, then a lot of us would be happy to pay more taxes.”

She does not indicate how much more each year that she was prepared to pay in taxes or how those who disagreed could opt out.

This should be contrasted with Peter Rusin’s letter, “Education is solution to anti-development protests in NOTL.” He wrote, “I am not willing to pay higher taxes because somebody doesn’t like something.”

To address both points of view I suggest that the town should create a Municipal Heritage Legal Defence Fund.  All those who feel that money should be spent defending heritage before the Ontario Land Tribunal could donate money to the fund.

The money collected could be used to hire legal counsel and experts in cases that have no chance of succeeding.  Once the money is depleted in any year no further lost causes would be funded.

The added attraction of such a fund is that the donors would get a charitable tax receipt that can be used when filing their annual tax returns, something that can’t be done with taxes paid to the town.

Ron Fritz
Queenston