YORKTON - Well with the new year Yorkton Council has unveiled that property taxes are on their way yet again.
This will surprise absolutely no one.
Annual municipal increases are now the norm.
The proposed budget that was finally on the agenda at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council included an increase in taxation totalling 3.65 per cent, with operations requiring 2.65 per cent and capital one per cent – although Council chose not to post the entire document for public feedback just yet pending some tweaks they seek.
In isolation the increase is a modest one, and certainly inflation is a factor as it has been around four per cent in the last year.
We can all appreciate inflation. We see it at the grocery store, restaurant meals, and oh yes water rates jumped too.
Certainly for many in the city inflation is higher than wage bumps and that means tightening budgets.
So while the proposed tax increase is modest in isolation, for many it will tighten the financial screws.
And, really we shouldn’t look at a single year of tax increases in isolation.
When taxes go up year after year you are of course compounding the previous increases by adding the current jump to what was done in the past.
Somewhere the question must be asked what is too much in terms of taxes?
One would hope someone on Council asked that question as they deliberated this year’s increase, but whether that happened and what the elected seven might be thinking in that regard was behind closed doors out of sight of those who elected Council.
Whether Council scratched their heads over when enough is enough or not is moot as there is another increase proposed here.
But soon Council and voters come the next election, should be coming to terms with how much taxes are affordable.
Certainly operating costs are going to climb, and we know there is a massive infrastructure deficit which will have the city playing catch-up for decades, but maybe our expectations need to change.
Maybe it’s time to not replace sidewalks, or reduce grass cutting, or snow removal, or have less RCMP, or we don’t pave pathways or spend the next $7 million on a golf clubhouse. Certainly, each of the items noted have merit and are nice for the city, but are they necessary and affordable if property taxes need to climb near four per cent annually to maintain that level service?
These are big picture discussions Council needs to be having, and not behind closed doors, but out where the public can follow their plan for our city’s tax future.
Maybe as the process begins for 2025 we will see more of what Council asks, at least if a comment by Mayor Mitch Hippsley comes to fruition.
“Maybe the 2025 budget can be done in open Council,” he said.
While not everything should be in front of all eyes, certainly it would be reasonable to show the electorate more of how Council decides how to spend taxpayer dollars.
