More Bad Government in Calgary
Calgary's city council, led by Dave Bronconnier, in the past week has done a few things that will lead to increased government spending, increased bureaucracy, and limited benefit to Calgarians.
Cat Bylaw - The city is going to register all cats, like they do dogs. They are going to charge cat owners $15 per cat per year to register the animals. First of all, I can't imagine they can build and administer such a database for that small sum. Second, what public good will come of this? Alderman Craig Burrows claims it "...will reduce the number of cats that have to be destroyed.". Perhaps he could explain to me that logic. I for one do not plan on paying this ridiculous fee.
Extending the C-Train - why would we want to spend tens of millions of dollars extending the C-Train transit system to the very edges of the city? Who exactly is getting on there - the people who live in outlying communities and don't pay city taxes? Considering that at rush hour it is nigh impossible to get on a train anyway, why aren't they upgrading the system and buying more train cars so the trains can run closer together and more often? That would alleviate problems on the far more than making the lines longer. Also - they publish a plan talking about two more train lines, but they have no budget for them and predict they might get built by 2025. Ooh, I can't wait!
Demanding the province stop collecting education property tax - this one is even sillier. Bronco wants the provincial government to give up $1.2 Billion in education property taxes (thus forcing the government to find it from other revenues). The reason? Bronco wants it. Since education property tax is about half of the total property tax Calgarians pay, Bronco wants to massively increase the funds collected by the city. What for? So we can spend more on stuff. Perhaps Bronco should try cutting spending in areas where there is clearly too much government. Like why do I have to pay $260 for a building permit to finish my basement?? So they know to raise my property value assessment and raise my taxes, that's why!!!!
I also think that this one would make it justifiable for the province to do away with the local school boards... Of course, if we privatized the schools that would be a very good thing.
Annexation of 150 square kilometres of surrounding countryside - Calgary is already one of the largest cities in North America by area. There is significant expansion space around the city for additional construction. This could be conserved by zoning for more multi-family dwellings (condos, apartment buildings). This would also save on how many roads need to be built. I think the real reason they want this land is so that all the wealthy acreage owners have to pay city property taxes... It's just another tax grab.
How is it that Calgary votes Conservative in federal and provincial elections but puts a bunch of tax and spenders in to rnu the city.
Cat Bylaw - The city is going to register all cats, like they do dogs. They are going to charge cat owners $15 per cat per year to register the animals. First of all, I can't imagine they can build and administer such a database for that small sum. Second, what public good will come of this? Alderman Craig Burrows claims it "...will reduce the number of cats that have to be destroyed.". Perhaps he could explain to me that logic. I for one do not plan on paying this ridiculous fee.
Extending the C-Train - why would we want to spend tens of millions of dollars extending the C-Train transit system to the very edges of the city? Who exactly is getting on there - the people who live in outlying communities and don't pay city taxes? Considering that at rush hour it is nigh impossible to get on a train anyway, why aren't they upgrading the system and buying more train cars so the trains can run closer together and more often? That would alleviate problems on the far more than making the lines longer. Also - they publish a plan talking about two more train lines, but they have no budget for them and predict they might get built by 2025. Ooh, I can't wait!
Demanding the province stop collecting education property tax - this one is even sillier. Bronco wants the provincial government to give up $1.2 Billion in education property taxes (thus forcing the government to find it from other revenues). The reason? Bronco wants it. Since education property tax is about half of the total property tax Calgarians pay, Bronco wants to massively increase the funds collected by the city. What for? So we can spend more on stuff. Perhaps Bronco should try cutting spending in areas where there is clearly too much government. Like why do I have to pay $260 for a building permit to finish my basement?? So they know to raise my property value assessment and raise my taxes, that's why!!!!
I also think that this one would make it justifiable for the province to do away with the local school boards... Of course, if we privatized the schools that would be a very good thing.
Annexation of 150 square kilometres of surrounding countryside - Calgary is already one of the largest cities in North America by area. There is significant expansion space around the city for additional construction. This could be conserved by zoning for more multi-family dwellings (condos, apartment buildings). This would also save on how many roads need to be built. I think the real reason they want this land is so that all the wealthy acreage owners have to pay city property taxes... It's just another tax grab.
How is it that Calgary votes Conservative in federal and provincial elections but puts a bunch of tax and spenders in to rnu the city.
posted by Technical Bard | 10:20
2 Comments:
Because we don't give a fuck about local government. At least I don't. I didn't even know Bronconnier ran for the Liberals in 1997 until someone told me. Maybe now I will care. They need to cover municipal politics more when things go wrong.
Now why would a good free market guy like you support something so anti-property-rights as zoning?
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