An 8.4% Hike in Water Rates - Merry Christmas from your Mayor

Its not unusual for governments to take advantage of the Christmas season to dollop out a dose of bad news because ordinary people are busy with friends, family and festivities. 

Last week, Ottawa used the Christmas distraction to advise urban Canada that home-to-home postal delivery was ending.  While this was big news, it certainly did not create nearly the amount of outrage and scorn that would have occurred if they released this item in few weeks earlier. 

People are busy. 

Tony Van Bynen also takes advantage of the holiday season. 

In Sunday's Era, hidden on the 4th page, is a tidbit that our Water/ Waste Water rates are increasing by a whopping 8.4% next year. 

This announcement comes on the heels of another annual tax increase, user fee increases, a special reserve fund levy in March, new fees for businesses and so on. 

In fact, the Mayor seems to have dug more deeply into our pockets this year than ever before. 

And despite the Mayor's spun tales about affordability, many people - but especially seniors and people who are on fixed incomes - are starting to feel the pinch of being nickled-and-dimed by this administration. 

In the newspaper's account of the explanation justifying the rate hike, most ominous for residents is the use of that dreaded "Internal Loan" technique where money is taken from one of the Town of Newmarket's reserve funds and "loaned" to another reserve fund.  

When I run my business, I will often use funds that I've earmarked for "marketing" to something more pressing, like an emergency repair.  I won't use credit except as a last resort. 

But what the Town of Newmarket does differently from most households and businesses, (and it is what has most people scratching their heads), is the idea that the "loan" is paid back to the original reserve plus interest. 

How is the interest being funded?  You guessed it, through higher Water/ Waste Water rates. 

So by artificially creating this interest payment for funds being moved from one balance sheet to another, the Town of Newmarket has also artificially created a reason to increase your rates year after year. 

That kind of creative "hocus-pocus" accounting makes financial sense to Mayor Tony Van Bynen but I don't think it makes sense to you and your family's savings.