Don’t just turn this election into a popularity contest
To the Expositor:
Well they are off and heading to the electoral finish line in Billings. All five incumbents re-running and some excellent new faces presenting, so hopefully we won’t have four more years of the same!
Questions are emerging from the woodwork it seems, from those who follow the Kagawong Facebook page to an all candidates’ meeting held on October 6.
So far I’ve seen one question about the town’s sustainability plan. Frankly, I’d like to see lots more! In case folks don’t understand, the revenues from the federal gas tax downloaded to municipalities is contingent on a satisfactory sustainability plan. Municipalities like Billings have had two windfalls over the last four to five years.
One, property tax increases thank to MPAC re-assessments that were on average 50 percent, ringing the cash registers at town treasuries. Two, the significant funding from gas tax downloads. All the federal government, through FedNor, asked was please develop a sustainability plan that shows us that you have a) done a self assessment of where you are along a continuum b) put in place a capital planning exercise i.e. how to build capital reserves to replace capital items (like fire trucks or water treatment plants or works or waste management equipment) and c) determine how any new growth would continue to contribute to the common operating costs (some form of development charges for developers would be a start).
Billings council did scramble to publish a sustainability plan three years ago but, as hard as I look, I can’t find these essential components. I hope interested Billings electors ask many, many questions about this central component of municipal planning and don’t just turn this election into a popularity contest!
Paul Darlaston
Kagawong
