Tomorrow's Special Committee of the Whole meeting will very quietly and almost surreptitiously impose a new "user fee" (ahem, tax) on Newmarket homes and businesses starting in 2017 related to storm water management.
The Town staff are going out of their way to say how transparent they've been. They had 44 likes on Facebook and 12 people showed up at a public information centre earlier this year on this topic. But it is fair to say that most people who live in Newmarket don't know this additional charge is coming.
Currently, the Town includes the costs of managing storm water within our property taxes. Staff have complained that our infrastructure hasn't been kept current and its getting too old and nearing the end of its usefulness. With replacement of storm water drains and other infrastructure upgrades looming on the horizon, the Town staff needs new ways to get more of your hard earned income dollars into the municipal government's hands.
Town officials promising that the first year will be revenue neutral. But no such guarantees are being offered on future years as this fund opens up the possibility of a cash cow for the Van Bynen/ Taylor administration.
For those listening in to tomorrow's 9 am meeting, expect lots of tsk tsk'ing about climate change. But the real culprit of the spiraling costs of storm water management is a lack of maintenance spending and an excessive reliance on road salt during the winter months. Both of these factors are entirely in the hands of the Van Bynen/ Taylor administration.
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