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Figure 4; Comparing Owen Sound Tax Increases - The Time It Takes to Match Georgian Bluffs Taxes |
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Reversing the High Tax Trend |
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The Mayor Said: |
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Not If You Adopt Some of My Solutions in 2024 |
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"Council recognizes that taxes for Owen Sound have been historically high and that higher taxes were not created overnight. Unless we cut important services the community requires, reversing that trend will take time. Council and the Administration have been working to reverse that trend." Ian Boddy December 20, 2023 |
The Mayor acknowledges that taxes grew to their current level over several years. He then claims that he needs more time to reduce taxes. More Time? Really? The fact is that Ian Boddy has been a member of Owen Sound Council for the past 13 years and has been Mayor since 2014. How can someone, who is in his tenth year as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation of Owen Sound, seriously say he needs more time to reverse the trend of high taxes? How much more time do you think he needs?
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FRUSTRATION |
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“Ian Boddy cited frustration with ‘lack of leadership’ in recent years, and said he believes the city must take some ‘long-delayed’ decisions to make its services more efficient. ‘I believe I can be a mayor who can make this happen. A mayor who is frugal and pragmatic but has the courage to make tough decisions. A mayor who listens, learns, thinks and takes action.” Boddy said.” Ian Boddy OwenSoundHub.org 02 Sep 2014 |
FRUSTRATION – I believe this is what most Owen Sound Taxpayers have been feeling for a while.
The first budget that he voted for in 2011 contained total expenses of $40,140,392. At that time Owen Sound’s population was 21,688 which was down from 21,753 in 2006. The latest financial information available to the public is contained in the 2022 Audited Financial Statements. These statements show that in the 11 years following the first budget he approved, Owen Sound expenses grew by $19.6 million to $59,753,592 while Owen Sound’s population retracted to 21,612. So, during the time that the Mayor has been on Council expenses increased by 48.9%, while the population reduced by 0.4%. How can this have happened? Owen Sound almost doubled expenses during a time when its population was in decline. Why would the CEO of the Corporation of Owen Sound allow this to happen? Given these facts I can’t accept his assertion that he has been; “working to reverse that trend.” and just needs more time. If he were to action some of the Solutions outlined in my report he could start the process of reversing the trend this year.
This year Council is likely to ignore the facts and approve a 2024 budget with an increase of 3.4%. This is about 2.4% higher than last year’s tax increase. Georgian Bluffs is considering a 4.82% tax increase for 2024. Based on the impact this has to taxpayers, this is equivalent to a 2.1% tax increase to Owen Sound taxes. As illustrated by the graph below, if Owen Sound Council approves a 3.4% tax increase and Georgian Bluffs approves a 4.82% increase, it will take 67 years to achieve tax parity with Georgian Bluffs as shown in figure 4 below.
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Figure 4; Comparing Owen Sound Tax Increases - The Time It Takes to Match Georgian Bluffs Taxes |
To correct our current high tax situation Council should impose a tax reduction of 2% in 2024. If they do and keep this reduction in the following years we will achieve tax parity with Georgian Bluffs in only 12 years.
Although a whole day was set aside to review the proposed 2024 budget they really on spent a little over 2 hours discussing the particulars of the budget. That is just not enough time to fairly evaluate the tax increases proposed by staff.
If Council should impose a tax reduction of 2% in 2024 and keep this reduction in the following years we will achieve tax parity with Georgian Bluffs in only 12 years. Tell Council to Send the 2024 Budget back for Serious Reductions.
