Re: "Council eyes tax hike to cover shortfall," The Gazette, June 16.
Once again city council can't think or see outside the box. Alberta's economy has not recovered and it is going to take a long while before that happens. Many people are still unemployed, families are struggling financially, and the city sure hasn't done much to alleviate any of this, but council is looking at raising taxes again.
When Alberta was locked down, St. Albert Transit continued to run. I stopped counting after the 100th empty bus went by on our street. It certainly would have been a cost-saving put dial-a-bus out during that time instead of running empty buses. Surely someone on council should have had the brains to figure that one out.
Recently, the rock, chip, and tar patch repair was done on our street again. We were notified this street was going to be paved this year. Why was money wasted on rock and chip repair? Also, a huge piece of machinery doing the concrete break-up went down the street, then back up again, and the rock and chip repair spots were crushed by the Caterpillar tracks. Money well spent? Not!
There are a lot of people on council who seem to have no idea of the reality of people's situations in this unprecedented time. There are many ways the city can cut back on costs so as not to put their shortfall on the backs of the taxpayer. Necessities versus wants need to be addressed. This is not the time, and hasn't been the time for quite a while, for unrealistic spending.
Council, clean up your own house to make it run efficiently and within budget before placing the shortfalls on the taxpayers again.
There is an election coming up. We need to vote in a responsible and accountable council.
J. Ritchie, St. Albert
