Quiz Answer for Franchise Fees

For my little quiz on the right hand side of this blog regarding Franchise Fee Increases you can either guess the answer or go to http://www.facebook.com/notes/crowsnest-pass-ratepayers-association/tax-warning-for-all-concerned-taxpayers/450922148292679 and find the real answer.

Just a hint it is a little bit higher than the rate of inflation.

Hoe, Hoe, Hoe this is not a funny story.

For the last five budgets I participated in, Administration, specifically Public Works approached council regarding the purchase of a track hoe.

The argument was made that we needed to have our own, due to us having to dependent on the availability of contractor’s hoes the costs involved etc etc.

Every year I asked the same questions give me specifics of when we ran into a problem getting a hoe, and how much were we spending on renting machines. The answer I always got was no specific dates and $10-15,000 a year.

With that information myself and enough of my fellow members of council had the wisdom to not make that $250,000 purchase. Even at a cost of $15,000 a year it would take 17 years to pay for then you would be left with a machine that was worthless, plus costing the town how many dollars to maintain each year.

So budget 2011 rolls around administration brings forth the request for a track hoe again, surprisingly council not only approves it but decides to put the taxpayers in debt to finance it. (at that point 17 years becomes 18-19)

But the story doesn’t end there just a few short months later administration comes back to council and says we need $25,000 to buy a trailer to move the hoe, well I guess now you have made the first mistake you really can’t go out and not have a trailer to move it around so council approves that.

Lets fast forward a year, the story of the track hoe I felt was behind me and could not get any more ridiculous than it already was. So here I am just a few evenings ago having a chat with a couple of fellows that have lived here all there life and spent most of their working life around heavy equipment, when the topic of the track hoe comes up.

I am told that the Hoe the municipality purchased is an odd ball size, attachments and parts can be difficult to acquire, Wow. Then the icing on the proverbial cake comes along (remember the initial argument about availability of contractors hoes) I am told that the municipality does not have a piece of equipment adequate to move the hoe around, we are dependent on contractors to do that for us.

Back taxes property sales and the 52% solution

Remember when the imposition of the 52% tax penalty was going to be the lever that would push all those nasty people in the Crowsnest Pass that were delinquent on their taxes to pay up.

Well if you think it worked check out the Alberta Gazette at http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/gazette/2012/pdf/16_Aug31_Part1.pdf   pages 1017-1028 there are 294 properties available.

Let’s Encourage Development Please

In a community that over the last 20 years has averaged maybe ten new homes a year, that has been hit with the closure of the Devon Gas Plant just in the last two months we need to encourage people to build here.

Even during the time when everybody is thrilled to hear that we may be the potential home for a Quebec manufacturer that could one day generate up to a hundred jobs. In addition a major new development going up in place of the Crowsnest Centre remember the “demolition before the first snow falls speech”.

What enlightening new idea have our leaders come up with to encourage people to build here? Bylaw 843-Safety Codes Service Fees.

We are going to take the cost of having those new homes certified from $3,683 to $8,080 by 2014 an increase of $4397 a 119% increase that's right 119%.

Hard to believe isn’t it?    

Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Association Press Release

Crowsnest Pass Rate Payers Association

 

William Kovach, President of the Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Association is very pleased to provide an update on the progress of the Association. What began back in June has a number of taxpayers getting together and voicing numerous concerns about the direction our community is heading. In a few busy months of public meetings being held in each community, to determine if there was interest in revitalizing the Ratepayers Association and hearing the concerns of the ratepayers it was  determined very quickly that the public is very interested in having a Ratepayers organization in place. 

The decision was made to move forward to elect an executive comprised of residents from all areas of the Crowsnest Pass. President William Kovach is very pleased to announce that the Association has in a very short time frame already signed up over four hundred members. He encourages anyone interested in joining the organization to contact any of the following executive board members (Cost of $5).

 

William Kovach 564-4709

Gail Montgomery 564-4077

Troy Clark 563 0381

Sasha JaegerBaird 563 6073

Ed Strembecki 564-0184

Marilyn Milley 562-2719

Marlene Anctil 562-8180

Larry Ruzek 564 4384

Rudy Pagnucco 562-8147

 

In line with the concerns raised by ratepayers at those meetings the executive created a mission statement for the organization one that states the following:

 

“The Association monitors municipal decisions to ensure that responsible and accountable governance is being provided for the people of the Crowsnest Pass."

 

The Ratepayers Association wishes to achieve these goals by working in cooperation with the municipal administration and council. To that end the Association has requested the following, a meeting with council and administration to introduce themselves and share the goals of the group (August 21, G+P meeting). A request for information from the CAO, regarding the concerns raised by the taxpayers at the public meeting (Taxation, spending, hiring, use of consultants etc) . The vast majority of which should be readily available as it is contained in the triennial budget put in place by council several months back.

 

Additionally President Kovach would like to announce that to keep the public better informed of how the ratepayers efforts are proceeding, the group will very shortly have it’s own Facebook page, they will also be holding their next executive board meeting September 20 at 7pm in the basement of the Coleman Legion. All members or prospective members are more than welcome to attend. 

Update: The site is now up and running on Facebook just punch in Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Association.

Wow the difference a week makes? Legal action in the Crowsnest Pass

Recently there was an article in the Pass Herald about Chinook Pipelines taken legal action against the municipality I was shocked when I got called and approached by a number of residents asking me what we did to upset this company back in 2009.
I did not know how to answer people it was news to me thankfully the Pass Promoter came out today with a   story that clarifies what is going on.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3602529

Why a ratepayers Association? Making a difference.

Back on August 2, 2012, I posted regarding the upcoming Franchise Fee Increase scheduled for Jan 1, 2013.

Think about this a three-year budget was passed early this year with much fanfare over taxes only going up 2.5% each year. Imagine if council had announced that the taxes were going up 7.5% in the second year. Taxpayers would have been out raged, there would have been editorials, letters to the editor denouncing our local leaders and tax collectors.  

No the majority remained happy and said “2.5% that not bad” but then the light came on and people began to realize it is not 2.5% it is really 7.5%. I have been asked repeatedly how do you get 7.5%? Simple back to Franchise Fees. These are a hidden tax that the vast majority of the public does not even know exists; they go on you gas and power bill and are then paid to the municipality.

The dollar amounts on these items $211,980 on the gas bills and $124,965 on the power bills for a total of $336,945 right out of the tax payers pockets no different than if they had increased our property taxes by an equivalent amount. Remember every $65,000 is the equivalent of a 1% tax increase so $336,945 is very close to 5%, on top of the 2.5% announced previously by council “7.5%”.

How does the Ratepayers fit in to this equation, well before these Franchise Fees can be imposed very have to be approved by council, that process began last night. Due to what I believe is the fact that most of our local politicians do not like the outcry being expressed publicly over the last few months with a group of concerned taxpayers coming together and forming the Ratepayers Association plus a number of there members sitting in the public gallery last night. Council blinked (At least for one meeting) when administration brought the Franchise Fees forward last night. There was discussion from Councilors Gallant, Saindon and Gail about the hardship of this type of increase, maybe the possibility of looking at other areas to raise additional revenue. Never once did I hear anyone suggest that maybe the municipality could reduce spending by $336,945.

The outcome; administration is going to bring this issue back on September 18; groups like the ratepayers need to keep up the pressure. People need to understand that speaking up at a town hall meeting or at the local coffee shop is great. Those are the voices of individuals; politicians only listen when they hear the voices of many.