November 16: Flamborough

      VOCO representatives (and the red casket) joined a couple of hundred citizens of the Flamborough community at a Town Hall meeting in the Millgrove Community Centre. The Committee to Free Flamborough (CFF) were asking for input on three proposals for restructuring: · Flamborough stand alone · Tri-City Flamborough, Ancaster, Dundas · Boundary adjustments (Division of Flamborough)

     CFF representatives and three local councillors described the current situation. Using figures taken from the City of Hamilton web site, Roman Sarachmen showed comparisons of the taxes collected from "city" and "suburban" wards, vs the tax dollars actually spent in these areas. The numbers alone make a compelling argument that the current structure places an unfair burden on suburban taxpayers.

     Keynote speaker Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario Director Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), gave an update of the CTF position on property tax reform. They assert that the current value assesment model (via MPAC) now used is unfair and regressive. It is now being investigated by the Ontario Ombudsman, André Marin.

     Her comments were repeated in a Nov. 28 news release, "The CTF is calling for an assessment freeze and the immediate institution of a reform process to investigate alternatives to the current value assessment system. The CTF recommends doing away with annual assessments, instituting a property tax cap, and creating a greater link between taxes and services received, by incorporating elements of unit-based assessment into the property tax system.
     To this end, the CTF is launching a new petition calling on the government to freeze assessments at 2003 levels and to begin anew the property tax reform process. The petition can be accessed on the CTF’s website at www.taxpayer.com"