Zero Tax increase over 4 years??

That is the question:

The issue raised of a zero increase over four years is old and easy for a candidate to suggest when serving only one term. We had zero increases several years ago, with no tax increases for two years (1999 & 2000.) Therefore the council I came into was forced to increase taxes by some 8.1% and 6.6% with a total of over 15% in my first 3-year term. Since then we have reduced increases consistently and slowly lowered them to inflation or less with this year at 1.8%. Council also set a spending cap to reduce the debt servicing cost and this is now helping to keep the taxes down.

Costs do increase with inflation therefore we must control spending but a zero tax regime would mean significant cuts to services including fire services and policing (49% of the average tax bill is made up of London Police Services, Social Services, London Fire Services and Debt Servicing costs.) Yes, we must cut our costs as many of our residents and businesses are facing severe hardship. Zero taxes means either significant cuts in service or deferring debt to another council, thus putting the pain off to later taxpayers.

I seek public input into our spending priorities and that is why for each year that I have been on council I have attended forums across the city listening the taxpayers of London to help us set our spending priorities. All of us would like a world where we have no increases but unless we budget wisely we face significant service cuts. I am serving on our Services (finance) Review Committee set up this term and chaired by my colleague Nancy Branscombe. This review of finances runs year round and independently of the budget process. This committee examines every service department for overlaps, efficiencies and savings.

Council made sure our complete budget is on the city website: www.london.ca