It’s Not Just About Property Taxes - Saving You Real Dollars
There are many things City Council can do to help you save money, whether or not you own property in Lethbridge. Yes, while keeping spending under control and responsible use of taxpayer money is paramount - I believe the best use of those funds is to reinvest them in the community those tax-payers live in so we can fund services that have been proven to reduce their household costs elsewhere.
We already do this to a certain extent: could you imagine if you had to hire your own firefighter, water treatment service, or waste-management contractor to suit your daily needs? Society has agreed that certain services in cities are best looked after on the collective whole, rather than individually. To a lesser extent, for the same reason public pools, public transit, and public libraries are largely tax-payer funded but also may include some user-fees to supplement their budgets. These facilities and services provide public programming, educational and recreational opportunities, and access to the community; adequately funding them saves families and folks money by removing entire line items from their budgets.
For example: some citizens will be able to reduce their personal transportation costs if they had reliable public transit to get to and from work daily in a reasonable amount of time. Each person that decides to take the bus represents one less car on the road. Additionally, reliable and fast public transit provides a safe transportation option for youths and seniors who may be mobility restricted. In this scenario, even folks who choose to drive their vehicles benefit with reduced costs because there will be less languishing in traffic or driving around blocks looking for parking spaces – automatically decreasing the fuel they might use, the wear on the vehicle, and the potential for collisions.
History has shown us that in times of economic uncertainty, as is certainly happening in the world today with significant ramifications for Lethbridge, the best move is to invest heavily in our social safety net and public services. The last 60 years have seen steady erosion of the public services that made Lethbridge successful in the past, so staying the course could potentially mean loss of some public services altogether.
In recent conversations with ATU Local 987 members and representatives, I learned about the erosion of our Access-A-Ride program in Lethbridge, and how poor service has become. This literally leaves our seniors and vulnerable citizens out in the cold, and puts added strain on the drivers and operators. There is a significant worry that the program is being set up to fail through the death of a thousand cuts, so the service might be privatized in the future, costing the taxpayer exorbitantly more than current services do.
We already saw this with the move to privatize school buses, and the disastrous frustrations that resulted for families. Now, many families are forced to drive students to school daily, increasing traffic congestion around schools.
Of course, this is just one example. I’ve created a chart of some other policies that will save your household money with brief examples:
There are some candidates this election who feel many public services ought to be defunded and privatized, or that there is no need for their valuable programming or services. Unfortunately, when public services are devalued by our local leaders people believe there is some sort of stigma attached with their use, and this is simply nonsensical. Riding a bus instead of driving, or learning to swim in a public pool rather than a private back-yard pool, or attending a free festival rather than a paid concert are all wonderful community-provided experiences that bring immense value to our community.