Don’t spend millions to hide charge


Yorkregion.com
Jan. 29, 2015
By Mike Gannon

PowerStream bills you for hydro and water based on meters that measure usage. Does anybody you know have a meter that measures stormwater?

No, I thought not.

So why does our City want to bill you for the cost of stormwater management and flood protection by putting it on your PowerStream bill?

You have already seen this year’s “stormwater fee” in your tax notice for 2015, but the City wants to have it billed in future years by PowerStream.

This involves huge additional onetime computer costs, and unnecessary annual charges for their billing services for 30 years.

How will landowners with undeveloped land and no PowerStream bill pay their fair share, you might ask?

If, as seems to be the case, we need to improve our infrastructure to protect against flooding, the cost should be funded by an appropriately shared tax, and I don’t mind paying it.

Keep it on the municipal tax bill where it belongs, and please don’t spend millions of extra dollars just to hide it as a “PowerStream” charge so certain folks at city hall can say we have “low” taxes!

We are not fooled! Make sure your mayor and councillor get the message.