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EDITORIAL: Debt and taxes

Taxes are up in all three North Shore municipalities this year.West Vancouver is leading the way at 6.89 per cent, thanks in large part to some hefty maintenance bills that council had been putting off for years.

Taxes are up in all three North Shore municipalities this year.West Vancouver is leading the way at 6.89 per cent, thanks in large part to some hefty maintenance bills that council had been putting off for years.

The City and District of North Vancouver are slightly more modest at 3.9 and three per cent respectively, accounting for inflation and some money for the capital kitty.

No surprise, negotiated wage increases with unionized staffers are a significant part of why costs go up year after year. Municipal workers’ wages and benefits are red meat for groups like the Fraser Institute, Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business who excoriate councils letting costs and taxes outpace what people in the private sector
can earn.

But those penny-pinching watchdogs don’t have the burden of providing services to a demanding public. Councils clearly find it easier to go back to the taxpayers’ well than to endure a public sector strike. People may grumble about taxes but when the garbage starts piling up, or the sewers get clogged, there’s hell to pay.

It’s not so easy to defend the ballooning salaries enjoyed by our municipal managers, who it seems are the only people whose take-home pay has kept up with the cost of housing.

And when it comes to deciding what programs and projects could be cancelled to save a few bucks at budget time, there is no groundswell of public opinion advising council what to cut and what to save. If you’ve got some suggestions, they’re all ears.

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