In this case, we should keep the extras.
There’s been a lot of legitimate concern over the last decade about increasing municipal tax rates.
This is certainly understandable, as taxes keep going up, and often people’s salaries are not going up with them, and certainly not at the same rate.
In North Cowichan, part of the rise in rates has been due to a conscious shift over the last few years to take some of the burden off of heavy industrial. Residential has taken up much of this burden.
The municipality’s reasons for doing so make sense, as they don’t want to be overly reliant on one taxpayer, in this case Catalyst’s Crofton mill, as such a reliance can lead to disaster should that one source of revenue dry up.
However, it has meant significant pain for some, particularly those on fixed income.
So we can understand when people see proposals to use significant chunks of money for particular projects that they are wary and question the need and the cost.
But there are two $50,000 chunks proposed in this year’s budget that we think are well worth the money.
The first is $50,000 for the Cowichan Aquatic Centre. This appears to be a case of spending money to make money. The cash is expected to increase revenues by 4.6 per cent and expenses by 2.98 per cent. So the centre will benefit financially in the long run. Seems like a worthwhile investment in the future of one of the municipality’s important assets.
The second chunk of money is proposed to start to deal with the invasive parrotfeather problem in Somenos Creek.
This plant is a serious issue that threatens to completely choke the waterway if something isn’t done soon.
Already the weed has proliferated at an alarming rate, filling the waterway so solidly at points that kayaks can’t penetrate the mass.
If we leave it now, we may never be able to get a handle on it and it could spread to Somenos Lake and other watercourses, degrading the natural environment.
Just look at what has happened with Scotch broom.
It has spread to such an extent that trying to get rid of it seems an almost impossible task (which is not to say that we shouldn’t still make the attempt).
So while keeping taxes down is an important priority, we’d agree that these are two projects that deserve some investment.
Council, it’s over to you.