DOUBLE DIGIT TAX INCREASE? WHAT IS THE VIEWPOINT OF RESIDENTS? DOES IT COUNT? WILL THERE BE AN EXODUS FROM GRAVENHURST AS A RESULT?

Gravenhurst Council is at its own crossroads. By the decisions of the last two council terms, with their reckless spending, they have placed themselves, and us, in a situation many poor families are facing today. Maybe this is an insightful period for the whole darn gang. We’re going to have to be frugal as a town.....just as many folks living here suffer from a lack of mad money! Or any unspoken for cash. Explaining somewhat why we need the Salvation Army to run our food bank.

The concept of the town feeling poor, because of its past over-indulgences; now that’s almost funny, and ironic, if it wasn’t such a nasty reality to those folks now, who can’t afford any more increases.

At this crossroads, it should give time for pause. Maybe enough of a hiatus, for councillors to start looking at this community up close and personal. Get out of the new crystal palace town hall and take a good tour.....maybe even on foot, and get to know the community beyond what council paperwork tells you. Now that construction season has arrived, in full rigorous bloom, it would be a splendid idea for mayor and council to take daily walks through areas like the main street, for example, to talk with merchants and construction crews as a matter of genuine interest........so that when there are complaints and protests about these projects, councillors will have had the kind of contact that keeps one up on current events, problems, progress and all new developments. This is the kind of support that would, in a small but significant way, let the BIA know, councillors are informed and not just by hearsay.

One of the observations councillors should make, as they are blasting us with a major tax hike, is what it may be doing to the local real estate market. The promise of high taxation over the next two to three years, may be forcing some folks to abandon ship. There are a lot of real estate signs popping up weekly, and what makes this odd.....is the fact we’re on the brink here of a more attractive season for property sales. A house with mottled, dirty snow-cover is not as attractive as one with manicured lawns and full flower beds. I witnessed this same run for the hills in 1990-91, as a recession began kicking. Supposedly in the recovery phase, or at least this is what we are told, it seems somewhat troubling there are so many new listings without a lot of buyers.....in an almost hurry-up mission to sell-off their holdings. The same for commercial real estate. Is there any link to high taxation, with no immediate relief in sight?

If you moved to Gravenhurst to retire, as we have facilitated so much in this community, I would think seeing double digit tax increases, along with ever-increasing property assessments, will increase alarm about how it will impact the comfort zone of fixed incomes. Having headlines that acknowledge this kind of large tax increase, certainly isn’t promoting the good and affordable life in small town Ontario. It is not the kind of headline that attracts new businesses. It is the kind of headline that makes one re-think the benefit of living here. Is this increasingly scary trend of taxation hikes, going to start a real estate sell-off? I would think that anything, or current event, that may be decreasing the tax base, considering the debt we owe, would cause a panic at town hall. The town needs more money not less. Especially now. If the retirement community realizes it is on that slippery slope, with no means of offsetting the cost, I think it’s logical some folks are going to abandon what they had believed, would be long stay in paradise.

Councillors must not take a narrow view, of what they have been forced to do with taxation. They must look closely at the day to day lives in our town, and recognize clearly, they are seriously impacting residents, and their habits, by raising taxes......not as a one year intrusion, but a multi year imposition. They need to experience some of the angst, which has been poignantly expressed by main street merchants, by visiting them during this new round of re-construction. Of course the restoration and improvements are needed. Without question. We will be better off when it is all completed. In the meantime, and even though our own mainstreet business fared okay, (during our phase of construction) we have acute regard for those businesses that may not be able to weather the coming economic storm because of the work in progress. I think a concerned council would want to get out of their respective cars, and show some on-site support for our merchants. If they want to help the BIA help itself, this kind of on-site involvement, and sharing of experiences, will go a long way to bridging the gap between town hall and local businesses.

I suggested this to a mayoral candidate, in the most recent municipal election. I meant it! For public relations and a sign of goodwill and compassion, it was good, easy to accommodate advice. Was it taken? If it happened, I wasn’t made aware of it. It might not have earned hundreds of votes but it would have been a major coup of credibility, and a show of sincere interest in the daily struggles, successes and failures within our community.

There are occurrences in this town, that our council needs to be monitoring. It’s too damn comfortable in that new town hall. Of course, so was the last town hall. It seemed the center of the town, when in fact, it wasn’t anything more than a portal onto the real community. There’s more to governing this town than swivelling in an office chair, and trying to stay awake through meetings. Like cops on the beat, we need more visibility from our elected officials. They’re too busy, you say? Well, let’s just say, there’s some fallout occurring, of the political / economic kind, and they are well advised to smarten-up before the crisis becomes full blown. If they admit that taxes, over their term of office, are likely to have husky increases each spring-time, then they will most definitely pay for their indifference......of not knowing life and times beyond run of the mill council duties.

Are people planning to leave Gravenhurst because of the cost of living? Are businesses holding off locating here because of headlines about deficits and tax hikes? Will home, investment and business properties be sold-off, as a direct result of high taxes? How many taxpayers now are in arrears, with little chance of clawing out of the quagmire? These answers need to be known. Now!

I know some councillors will retort to my concern, about the sell-off of property. They’ll be purchased by someone else, right? As part of the cycle, you see! Eventually these properties will be sold, some to mover-uppers, first time home-owners (maybe not now that rules have changed, and property values remain high), and of course new and eager residents to town. That is correct as well as obvious. Retirees? Maybe not so much. There is however, a time factor here, and a tax crisis in progress. There’s a hole in the dam and it’s getting bigger, and I’m just not as sure, time and necessity are going to plug the breach, before it all floods into an economic calamity instead.

Critics are scorned, dismissed and avoided because they are forced by conscience, and good journalism, to represent all sides.....not just the side of the home team. While I recognize that council’s perception may be that, a blogger like me, is self-elevated on some great pedestal, affording vast privileges of pomposity and arrogance toward the governance of the day. An axe to grind? Just finding faults? No fair consideration of the tough jobs they have at town hall? Well, I welcome those who feel this way, to read my blogs from the beginning.....not just my Gravenhurst site. I am a proud Muskokan. I am a proud citizen of Gravenhurst. It will show. Now it’s time to give me the benefit of the doubt.

Seeing as my wife and I plan to retire in Gravenhurst, and operate our three family businesses, I make no apology whatsoever, for making an aggressive defense of this town’s future. My concern right now, is for the folks here, who love this town as much if not more than we do, but will soon be unable to afford the luxury. This needs to be dealt with.....not by employing consultants from somewhere else, (to find out what we already should know) but by waking up to the realities of the day........by immersion..... not succumbing to that old standby.......”presumption” about what’s really going on!