Reminder One: 41% of Oshawa taxpayers property taxes go to the Region, 41% to the City of Oshawa and 18% to the Schools.
Reminder Two: the Budget of the Region of Durham is 10x the Budget of the City of Oshawa $1.6 BILLION vs. $160 Million.
Imo battling COVID-19 in Durham Region is soon going to require a Regional municipal property tax break in 2020.
The time is now for the Region to be shifting its spending priorities, rework what funds in reserves go where, and take such proactive measures to do this as shelving its plan for a $250Million anaerobic digester.
The Region continuing to say as it does in Chair Henry's letters, videos and on the Region website and communiques that they are pursuing federal and provincial support is sounding pretty tired.
This week:
Mayor Carter put in place an Oshawa optional property tax payment deferral plan and said he will be contacting the Province about a deferral of the $15M School Board levy due the end of this month.
Premier Ford made announcements every day:
declared a state of emergency;
reached out to industry to work on production of masks, ventilators, protective gear for front-line health care facilities;
passed new legislation to allow electronic representation at meetings of Councils and Committees;
passed 2 worker- protection laws in response to COVID-19; and
finalized contract negotiations with the elementary school boards.
Prime Minister Trudeau announced $82 BILLION in economic aid!
Question, what is Durham Region Chair John Henry's announcement?
The Region has it's regular monthly meeting this coming Wed. March 25th. First, there will be a special meeting to permit electronic representation at future meetings.
Second, Council is to recommend "Delegation of Authority to the Regional Chair and/or Regional Staff (as the case may be), in order to ensure that the administration of the Region can rapidly respond to the current and evolving challenges being experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic".
Considering that
1) the Region is the upper tier municipal government;
2) many people are very concerned about being able to pay their municipal taxes and
3) the Region has more than enough in reserve to cut tax payments,
isn't it the right time now to ask for more options than tax deferral relief.
Chair Henry understands the problem in part given he wrote a nice letter to the PM and the Premier March 18, 2020.
But the Region can tap into the $BILLION+ it has in discretionary reserves to help those impacted financially who don't have the luxury of a guaranteed income like those in the public sector.
Email Region Council, [email protected] Ask for the 2020 taxes to be rolled back to help those hardest hit by the economic and financial impact of the COVID-19 tsunami.
Reminder Two: the Budget of the Region of Durham is 10x the Budget of the City of Oshawa $1.6 BILLION vs. $160 Million.
Imo battling COVID-19 in Durham Region is soon going to require a Regional municipal property tax break in 2020.
The time is now for the Region to be shifting its spending priorities, rework what funds in reserves go where, and take such proactive measures to do this as shelving its plan for a $250Million anaerobic digester.
The Region continuing to say as it does in Chair Henry's letters, videos and on the Region website and communiques that they are pursuing federal and provincial support is sounding pretty tired.
This week:
Mayor Carter put in place an Oshawa optional property tax payment deferral plan and said he will be contacting the Province about a deferral of the $15M School Board levy due the end of this month.
Premier Ford made announcements every day:
declared a state of emergency;
reached out to industry to work on production of masks, ventilators, protective gear for front-line health care facilities;
passed new legislation to allow electronic representation at meetings of Councils and Committees;
passed 2 worker- protection laws in response to COVID-19; and
finalized contract negotiations with the elementary school boards.
Prime Minister Trudeau announced $82 BILLION in economic aid!
Question, what is Durham Region Chair John Henry's announcement?
The Region has it's regular monthly meeting this coming Wed. March 25th. First, there will be a special meeting to permit electronic representation at future meetings.
Second, Council is to recommend "Delegation of Authority to the Regional Chair and/or Regional Staff (as the case may be), in order to ensure that the administration of the Region can rapidly respond to the current and evolving challenges being experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic".
Considering that
1) the Region is the upper tier municipal government;
2) many people are very concerned about being able to pay their municipal taxes and
3) the Region has more than enough in reserve to cut tax payments,
isn't it the right time now to ask for more options than tax deferral relief.
Chair Henry understands the problem in part given he wrote a nice letter to the PM and the Premier March 18, 2020.
But the Region can tap into the $BILLION+ it has in discretionary reserves to help those impacted financially who don't have the luxury of a guaranteed income like those in the public sector.
Email Region Council, [email protected] Ask for the 2020 taxes to be rolled back to help those hardest hit by the economic and financial impact of the COVID-19 tsunami.