News   Mar 18, 2024
 600     0 
News   Mar 18, 2024
 2.2K     3 
News   Mar 18, 2024
 733     0 

New Land Transfer Tax

Miller is officially a bigger clown than Lastman.

After all this crap about land transfer taxes and vehicle registration fees in order to not raise property taxes, we are still in a huge shortfall and will have to raise property taxes anyways (which is what quite a few critics were saying).

They aren't even close. Miller is far better than Lastman was.
 
he could cut costs by 200 million instead by freezing wages to Inflation???

Yes, but how could he do that legally? Most collective agreements don't expire until at least the end of next year. Provincial and federal parliaments at least have the power to reopen collective agreements through legislation, but a municipality has no such power.
 
What a novel idea, the union is part of the solution. Too bad CUPE 416 does'nt see it this way.

CUPE accepts cut to help Bishop's Falls crunch
Thursday, November 1, 2007 | 4:13 PM NT
CBC News

Unionized workers employed by a central Newfoundland town have agreed to waive a no-layoff clause in their contract to help keep the local arena.

The Bishop's Falls arena has been closed while officials look for money to fix ice-making equipment.

The workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, have agreed to voluntary cuts.

CUPE national representative Bob Matthews said the union is allowing one employee to take a voluntary layoff and another to take medical leave.

The Bishop's Falls town council said it needs between $60,000 and $100,000 for repairs.

Matthews said the union hopes the gesture will spur the Newfoundland and Labrador government to come forward with additional resources.

Instead we get this...

October 14, 2007

LOCAL 416 SUCCESSFUL AT ARBITRATION ON SUNDAY BRANCH CLOSURES

Local 416 is pleased to inform you that we won the arbitration launched on your behalf regarding the Sunday closures of branches. We argued at arbitration that this was an illegal layoff that violates our contract, and the grievance was upheld. :(
 
Yeah....much as I am extremely supportive of both Miller and the taxes it's clear that in the pending round of CBAs he is going to have to ask for concessions from the unions. Both because politics demands it (can't imagine the uproar if they're not asked to share the pain) and because, with the LTT in place and maybe one or two more rev tools (billboard tax, bottled water surcharge a la Chicago, maybe something on cigarettes) the city could, *maybe*, be able to be on a decent financial footing for a while if wage increases can be brought under control. Not to say that we don't need/deserve a cent of sales tax too, especially if any serious city-building is to be done, but the mayor can hardly ignore the reality that balanced budgets, anyway, are probably within the power of the municipal government alone within the next few years.

What we can't afford is a UK-in-the-70s situation where the unions can effectively hold the government hostage, since that will inevitably set the stage for the election of a hard-right mayor who promises to really break them (hell, I might even vote for one in that case). Much better for everybody to just reach a compromise now.
 
allabootmatt,

I agree. People are willing to accept tax increases if it can be demonstrated that the additional revenues will yield specific results. So if they said for instance we will raise such and such tax to create a transit infrastructure fund to improve the TTC, that is something that can be sold. In the absence of such targeted ambitions the Miller must be seen as addressing structural reform in current operations, exacting concessions from labour and cutting costs (which also means cutting councillor perks an issue I hate because it is populist rubbish but plays well on main street). If on contract renegotiation additional revenues get swallowed up by labour this will be seen as a betrayal of the city by the mayor.
 
I wish I could agree, but every poll said that people would be willing to have a tax hike in order to increase health care funding. McGuinty took that to heart, and introduced the health premium. People still scream "Liar" at him.
 
Occasionally you see left-leaning politicians in power face down their constituencies. Bob Rae bit the bullet in the 90's and forced public sector workers to effectively take pay cuts. Rene Levesque did much the same a decade before.

But my guess, judging from Miller's rather lifeless performance these past four years, is he's not that kind of leader.
 
I recently got my license plate renewal form in the mail, and it's still showing $74. Guess the 80% increase hasn't taken effect yet. Anyone know when it will be implemented? Either way, I'm purchasing a 2 year renewal to prevent the city from snatching the $60 fee next year.
 

Back
Top