Dear Editor:
I refer to the Dec. 11 North Shore News story, Speak Up or Face LoLo BIA Levy.
In the past, some companies have used "negative option billing" to add new customer charges without your consent by assuming you accept them. The onus is on the customer to decline. The News' story says the Lower Lonsdale Business Association was successful in their Dec. 2 bid to persuade city council to allow a counter-petition.
The Lower Lonsdale Business Association could not convince local businesses to fork over half a million dollars annually to them for who-knows-what activities.
Actually, I do: They want to hire an administrator for $95,000 a year plus $20,000 expenses, spend $40,000 on professional services, spend $140,000 on the party at the pier, a Christmas party, a fall party, and other activities all totalling $560,000 or thereabouts annually. However, the Lower Lonsdale local businesses refused to pay.
Subsequently, the Lower Lonsdale Business Association has convinced council to approve a bizarre BIA plan to have the city force local landlords to collect from the already suffering tenants as a levy added to the property tax. The landlord is assumed to approve this scheme unless they decline.
Coun. Rod Clark is quoted as saying: "If they can't sell it in Lower Lonsdale, I'll be damned if I'm going to say you can do it by this negative petition. It's simply wrong. It's undemocratic."Thank you Coun. Clark; I had not even heard of this petition to the city.
But some councillors are more liberal with their concept of democracy as reported by the News: "I think it is democratic because if the opposition does get off their derrièreand decides they don't like it, they can overturn it. I'm always going to be on the side of the engaged," said Coun. Guy Heywood.
Well to me this whole scheme appears to be nothing more than a form of "negative option billing" but the stakes are much higher. Does council believe that another tax blow to the local business will help them? Does council forget the 50 per cent property tax increase they hit the small business operators with in 2004 to fund the shortfall due to the reduced assessments on federal government waterfront properties? Does council forget that the local businesses have already rejected the proposal from the Lower Lonsdale Business Association? More of our councillors may want to be engaged with the local businesses prior to forming expensive opinions on their behalf.
Angelo Cusano
North Vancouver
