Barrie Chalmers for Mayor of Kingston

Barrie Chalmers followed through at the COGECO’s Mayoral Debate on how he plans to reduce residential taxes by 2% year over year when he becomes Kingston’s next mayor.

Past councils and current mayoral hopefuls were caught flatfooted when Mr. Chalmers announced his goal of reducing property taxes in Kingston by 2%.  They were quick to point out they could not do it but offer little comfort by stating they would limit future increases.

Chalmers cited the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in favour of the City of Montreal against the Federal Government.  The decision opens the “head and beds tax” in lieu of real property tax.  This decision could increase transfers to the City of Kingston by $10 million annually.  This more then offsets the $6 million needed to reduce taxes.  The City of Toronto was an intervener in case as the City of Kingston Council sat on the sidelines like benchwarmers.

“These tax cuts can only be accomplished with the proper financial management that I as Mayor can provide. The city has dove into our pockets for far too long, our property taxes are too high, and the citizens of Kingston are not happy. We can no longer afford tax increases that only benefit a select few.”

Mr. Chalmers is quick to point out as new residential housing taxes come on line the City’s revenue will continue to grow, “just not on the backs of existing taxpayers”.

In addition he plans going over line by line the municipal budget looking for efficiencies and not cuts.  Municipal jobs are not in jeopardy as Gerretsen stated in his response to Chalmers bold move.

“The only cuts I can see in the near future are the spending on the Cultural Plan with its decorative manhole covers and the $4.3 million to revamp of Lake Ontario Park at a cost of $190,000 per acre.”

With further up loading of municipal services like court security in year two; Chalmers is confident he can continue the trend for his first four year term.

After consulting with sectors in the business community Mr. Chalmers reassured them the residential cuts will not be a burden on the commercial sector.  Although commercial taxes have increased year over year Chalmer’s feels they should also benefit from the same approach.  Chalmer’s is proposing the same 2% reduction on commercial taxes for 4 years so business both small and large can fully recover from the latest economic down turn.  This will not reduce the current tax base but will provide some stability as business adjusts from market downturn, McGuinty’s HST and soaring electricity costs.

The City of Kingston’s tax revenue will continue to grow as our commercial sectors grow.  This will send a message out to the Canadian and International Business communities that Kingston will be the place to invest and expand.

Although the other candidates will continue with the “Barrie can’t” rhetoric in their reactionary press releases, Chalmers stated:

“I will only promise on what I think I can deliver to the tax payer.” Barrie has no plans to deviate from this course on this or any other policy.

“I would like to go further on the commercial tax side but I have to be careful not to overpromise and under deliver.”

I have received many questions from concerned citizens in regards to my plan to reduce property taxes by 2% every year, for 4 years. These questions have ranged from wondering just how I will accomplish this to the impact this policy would have on jobs. I hope that the following information answers many of these questions for all of you.

The reason that I am promising to make this change is that I believe it is just plain proper management of the city. The amount of taxpayer money that is wasted on unnecessary projects is unacceptable. The point of this policy is to show not just Kingstonians, but people who may consider moving to Kingston that the city is changing its attitude from one of wasteful spending, to one which takes care of the city’s needs before its wants. This new attitude will draw in both new businesses and new residents who notice that the city is taking better care of the entire community.

I want to stress that this policy will not result in people losing their jobs or compromise the administration of any of our services. The money that the city needs to implement this change will come from several different smaller changes. One such change is that I will go after the federal government so that the City of Kingston receives the money it should be getting from the Heads and Beds program. The rest of the money will come the elimination of wasteful projects.

I hope this answers many of the questions people have had. If you have any further questions, please feel free to either call me at the campaign office or send me an email. I will do my best to respond to you in a timely manner.