VIEW POINT.

sien up

6 - North Shore News — Wednesday, October 25, 2000
TH the federal eiection
race officially on as of last

Sunday, voters need to
start asking some questions.

And they need to keep asking
them of politicians, neighbours,
friends and family until they get the
answers that will help them make
an informed decision on election
day.

For those who have yet to craft
all the questions that need answer-
ing this time around, here are a
couple to get you going.

First, you might want to know
why Canadians are going to the
polls on Nov. 27.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien has
said the government needs some
direction on what to do with the

budget surpiuses Canada currently
enjoys and is projected to enjoy

West Van life not
about floral clocks

“Dear Editor:

On Saturday, 1 was at Dundarave Beach with my children
“when I happened to begin chatting with a woman there. She
was standing next to the Girl on a Tortoise sculpture in the
; playground. I mentioned that it was a shame that the statue
“seemed. 'to: be deteriorating rapidly. She told me that her
mother had sculpted the statue by hand and donated it to the
park before she died. The woman told me that the munici-
pality refused to pay to restore and maintain the statue due
' to lack of funds. It saddened us both to think that lovely stat-
which is loved by all of the children will someday be gone. .
Imagine my surprise the next day. when I read about the

over the next few years.

But the short answer here is that
there was no need to call a federal
election so far from the end of the
current government’s mandate
beyond the Liberal party’s own
political agenda.

And you can be sure that if the
Liberals’ plan follows the party’s
script and it’s returned to office to
form the next government, Nov. 27
will be the last time you or any
other Canadian will have any say at
all in how that money will be spent.

So the key question to be
answered over the next month is:
What matters more: the Liberal
party or the country?

The answer resides in the noise
federal politicians will make during
the campaign.

Listen carefully.

directive appears to
have had 0%
impact.

At least on the stan-
dard operating procedure
of the district’s powerful
municipal hall bureaucra-
cy. And district residents
had best brace for some

_ bad news because of that
0% directive.

Readers will recall

that earlier this year, dis-
‘trict council, led by

THE impact of North Vancouver
District council’s 0% tax increase

WoW! MORE THAN #1000. ExTeA

FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR.
ALL THIS Time — WHERE'D
PAUL MARTIN FIND

zy) THE MONEY ?

4
SF ai
PAT

SA Ws
AN
WN

Keep zero tax hike o

its staffing and operations would run
counter to che aforementioned bureaucrat-
ic growth objective.
So the public suffers.
And the politicians who
push for operating effi-
ciencies take the heat
from the public when
services are inevitably
cut. Bur the bureaucracy
sails on unscathed.
And if you thought that
a single budget with a 0%
increase was Next to
impossible, try nvo in a
row. Just not done. It
* would bring government

“cost of the planned floral millennium clock at the foot of

15th Street at Bellevue. It will cost $177,361.00! At 20 feet

‘diameter with a concrete base and lights, it sounds quite ,

* gawdy to me,
$0 much is be

‘om Vera’s burger ‘shack in Dundarave to the little mock -

One of the reasons we all love West Vancouver
ause it manages to feel like a quaint little town.

train in’ Ambleside to the Gir! on the Tortoise. It is all what
‘gives West Vancouver its warmth and charm. No more play-
"ing Frisbee or tag at the base of 15th: Put in a huge clock and
swatch the tourists fleck in: Why, ) you'll probably be able to

see it fro:

“space! .
That is not why the tourists come here. They come for the

Girl on the Tortoise and other uncommercialized delights. I
other: people let the’ municipality know they are not

happy

with’ the way” their taxes are’ being spent. “Oh, and.

repair the statue, before it’s too fate.

Kelley Voyer *::

West Vancouver.

DO. YOU HAWG aA STORY IDEA? ..
Susinass Hours: Sharon Cocomile

Editorial Assistant
$85-2131, local 120
985-2104 =. :
scacomile@nsnes. com.

‘suburban newspapes and isa under Sehedute
114, Paragrapti W ar the Excisa Tax Act i is published” 5
each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday | by ACN

and Gistributed to every doar
Canasa “Post Canadian «

m 985-2137 (116)

Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn, voted 4-3

‘to send municipal staf back to the fiscal

drawing board to caine. up with what
council had previously directed them to
come up with: a budget with 0% tax
increase.

But, when it comes to budgets and
taxes, zero growth does not compute in
the land of taxpayer-supported bureaucra-

cies, They’re born to expand.

Little wonder then that district hall’s .
initial response to the 0% directive was a
3.34% tax increase. After all, that was down
from the original proposed increase of
4.3%, or 6.2% or 9%, depending on whose
figures \ you believed.

The reduced tax hike came with 4 pric- |

etag, however: $4.7 million in capital cost
item cuts.

The first line of passive resistance for
any entrenched bureaucracy threatened
with calls for operational efficiencies is to

roll out sérvice cuts and user fees. Pillaging _/
. of budget reserves and creative number
~ juggling are also high on the standard

~ operating procedure option list. |

Examination of the bureaucra:i tic body,

‘Doug Foot
General Managet
965-2131 (133) -

" 4 aac Witma
sneer gt)

‘

Terry Peters
ety Editovia! Manager
4 985-2131 (160)
ipetersBasnews com

operations as we know them to a full stop.
Might also set a dangerous precedent.

So, North Vancouver District residents,
here’s the bad news.

While your 0% tax increase for 2000 -
was achieved through a combination of ©:
capital project cuts and further pillaging of
your once buoyant but now almost
exhausted Heritage Fund, your tax increase -
for 2001 will be a tad over 0%.

Try 13%.

That translates to about $4.6 million or |
a tax hike for the average district home-

AFTER.

OUR
WALLETS.

ey

the district; cut the hours of operation for’

recreation and aquatic facilities on week-

ends and in the evenings; close the library

one day per week; reduce annual municipal

grants to non-profit community service
roups.

Behind Door No. 2 (service cost:-
increases): bump up admission fees at’.
Maplewood Farm and Murdo Frazei golf
course; charge a field user fee to local” '
sports teams; increase fees for all recreation
services and’ programs by 3%; charg a fee
for secondary suites

A $10,000 telephone survey is ‘beitig!
readied to poll residents on what
services they think should be cut
increased levies can be applied to gen
more revenue to head off the 11% ¢
increase. Council is also set to‘engage an”
external auditor to audit all managem
control systems in the Parks and ...)
Engineering de partment.

In light of the recent Frécloading:

episode | involving district work

eeping on the job and otherwis¢
- taxpayers, that’s warrante

But in light of significant tax
on the horizon, the public needs more
than a municipal-staff driven list of opt
that either cut services or raise user fees.

owner of $127. Might just burn up any tax

break you get from the federal govern-
ment. But in the carrot-and-stick approach
to running a municipality, the looming tax
increase is only the stick.

District hall is readying an offering of

what it might consider assorted carrots for
the docile masses to digest: ways to reduce
the size of said tax increase.

Some examples:

Behind Door No. 1 (service cuts): cut

‘the number of RCMP officers from 92 to -.
’ 89; eliminate the Green Waste pickup pro-'-

grams eliminate all flower bed Plantings i in

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"_ {After Moiire Mews Tips? 985-2131
Timothy Reashaw ... .
am Cxecutive Editer :
B 925-2131 (756)

municipal hall operations
informed decisien on hov
budget should be applied n

~"° sequent years can be madi

The initia! 0% push open
options beyond lockstep tax increases
year. Council needs to erisure that doo
“remains open. fs
_. -& determined dose of tough
~ from at least one. North Shore council
"could have widesp ad benefits for all three
municipaliti ¢ ae

www. niSnEWs. CON

“1139 Lonsdale Aven