Sunday, March 20, 2011

Facts and fiction-- comments on Mayor Lippert's newspaper ads.




Mayor Lippert produced an ad in two consecutive issues of the Morning Star under “Mayor’s Corner” (see attached). Impressive ads! It would be even more impressive if they were factual. It is possible that the information relating to city taxes are accurate. However, the NORD related information is incorrect. One would think that with the scrutiny of highly paid staff this kind of mistake would be discovered (including the mistake in the first line of the ad).

Where the information is wrong relates to Parks and Recreation, arts and culture, the Performing Arts Centre and Wesbild Centre. Taxes for these services are based on property values expressed as “mill rate” and not “population based” which would be “per capita charge”. You can verify this by checking your property tax form. The majority of assessed values are located in the city therefore the majority of taxes are levied to the city. The ad seem to imply that the city is paying an unfair share of the cost of the Parks and Recreation services.

City representatives on NORD Board fully supported these taxes. There are three Directors from the City one from Coldstream and one each from Area “B” and “C”. No financial resolution can be passed without full support of city Directors.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the fireside chat look....sweater and a mug of java.
This ad is purposely designed to deceive and create a sense of Vernon carrying a disproportionate weight of financial obligation. Thank you Codstreamer for challenging it!

Anonymous said...

Incomplete information:
Sure, the City pays the Regional District about $9 million a year, but did you know that the Regional District pays the City about $10 million a year?

What is Mayor Lippert trying to accomplish?

And why does the Mayor believe it is OK to boast about paying only about 55% of the "service costs", when in fact the City of Vernon is a 68% partner in the services mentioned at the end of the article!

SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!

Coldstream Ratepayers News! All Coldstream residents are ratepayers!

The opinions expressed by "Coldstreamer" are strictly his own and do not represent the opinions of Coldstream Council!

Because I value your thoughtful opinions, I encourage you to add a comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if I edit your comments for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and I may even delete off-topic comments.

Gyula Kiss
coldstreamer@shaw.ca;

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I have been a resident of Coldstream since 1976. I have had 15 years of experience on Council, 3 years as Mayor. As a current Councillor I am working to achieve fair water and sewer rates and to ensure that taxpayers get fair treatment. The current direction regarding water supply is unsustainable and I am doing all I can to get the most cost effective water supply possible.