Our utilities bill for Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, when compared to the same period in 2002, computes to a 100 per cent increase ($1.95 per day vs. $0.97 per day). Flat rates constitute 59 per cent of the bill vs. 42 per cent in 2002.
Astute readers will have detected two disturbing trends — a doubling of the bill in seven years and declining incentive to reduce garbage and water consumption. Meanwhile our property taxes increased 46 per cent during the same period. It is time that city council aligned increases in taxes to increases in wages for the average citizen or to the Consumer Price Index.
The mania for growth in the city — some of it subsidized — and its administration must be reined in. Otherwise many citizens on fixed incomes will have to leave this fair city.
Don Thomas, St. Albert
