Dear Editor:
After the tremendous tax increase last year, I am very surprised that city management and council want another tax increase.
Taxes are up, insurance rates are up, utility rates are up, vacancy rates are up, and property values are down. Businesses and homeowners are maxed in Yorkton. As rental property owners, our rental income has significantly decreased to the point where providing affordable, quality rentals is difficult to sustain.
Unless there is more growth, city council and management cannot expect local taxpayers to give more. How will the new capital expenditures help growth? Can city council and city management demonstrate that their policies to date have been effective in promoting growth? We’ve posed the questions below directly to the city, but only received partial answers.
The data we collected from students (i.e. reading levels, test results) helped us as teachers to monitor the success of our teaching practices as well as showed us where we needed to change our approach in order to help the students be more successful. In business we also need to use the same approach, assessing and reassessing the data to make good decisions based on facts, what’s working, what’s not working and what’s needed. We hope that city council and city management are using this same approach and will share their data with taxpayers, as we all want our city to be successful.
1. City Growth: What is the city’s plan for business growth and how many jobs have been created in the past year? Past 2 years?
2. How many potential businesses have approached the city within the past 2 years, but ultimately decided not to pursue their business interests in Yorkton?
3. How many businesses and jobs have been lost in Yorkton in the last year? Two years?
4. How many new residential lots and business lots been sold in the last year? How many building permits have been issued in the past year?
5. How many homes have been sold in the past year? How many are still up for sale?
6. Are current city facilities so over utilized that we need another spray park/rink or are there some projects that can wait until they are affordable?
7. City council is receiving a 7.38% pay raise this year. Why? Has City management asked for the same increase?
8. City council has cut their meetings the last couple of years by almost 25%. Why? How is city council still doing its due diligence?
We are looking forward to a more fulsome response from city council and city management.
Thank you,
Bruce and Colleen Monette
