Higgins fails at charging fee for not living in SJ
North End city councilor Patty Higgins made it clear earlier this year that she doesn't take kindly to non-Saint Johners. When hearing from concerned parties about the Irving-Port Lantic Sugar property proposal, Higgins demanded that people who weren't from the city identify themselves as such.
Another display of municipal-xenophobia is rearing its head again in council chambers. Higgins wants to charge an $8 fee for commuters who enter the city to work or shop. Council didn't let this harebrained idea pass.
Still other councilors and the mayor think that people from the suburbs need to pay in some way for city services (this ignores the fact that cost sharing is in place for major city facilities).
I don't think charging suburbanites to come to town is a good idea. These folks are coming to work for and shop at businesses that pay property taxes to the city. If workers and shoppers didn't come, these taxes would dry up when businesses closed or moved away.
What if a person from the KV owned a business in McAllister Industrial Park and was paying taxes for the building? Should she have to pay a fee to also come to work in the building. Perhaps she would rethink owning in the McAllister Park, shut down her business and move it to the Hammond River Industrial Park in Quispamsis.
I want for commuters to move in town and be my neighbours, but strong arming them with a user fee of this nature is not the solution. If we make the city more appealing to them, say with a lower tax rate, they could move to the city and add to building stock and tax base.
Another display of municipal-xenophobia is rearing its head again in council chambers. Higgins wants to charge an $8 fee for commuters who enter the city to work or shop. Council didn't let this harebrained idea pass.
Still other councilors and the mayor think that people from the suburbs need to pay in some way for city services (this ignores the fact that cost sharing is in place for major city facilities).
I don't think charging suburbanites to come to town is a good idea. These folks are coming to work for and shop at businesses that pay property taxes to the city. If workers and shoppers didn't come, these taxes would dry up when businesses closed or moved away.
What if a person from the KV owned a business in McAllister Industrial Park and was paying taxes for the building? Should she have to pay a fee to also come to work in the building. Perhaps she would rethink owning in the McAllister Park, shut down her business and move it to the Hammond River Industrial Park in Quispamsis.
I want for commuters to move in town and be my neighbours, but strong arming them with a user fee of this nature is not the solution. If we make the city more appealing to them, say with a lower tax rate, they could move to the city and add to building stock and tax base.
2 comments:
Just when you thought Saint John City Council couldn't get any crazier! Argh! The next 3.5 years will not go by fast enough!
Well said. Imposing a fee upon people to come work for and spend money in tax paying businesses in the city is just plain proposterous!
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