But while that sounds like great news, it’s only half the story. The RATE is heavily influenced by rising home values, not just City spending.

Rates have gone down partly due to hard work by Council and City staff to become more efficient and reduce low priority programs. But they have also gone down in part because house prices have gone up.

And because property values are climbing, we could freeze the RATE and still see a massive 10% tax hike—something the City doesn’t need and residents can’t afford.

This is why I don't focus on tax RATES. They are a poor measure of performance and tell you very little about the actual bill residents pay.

I don’t see the value in comparing our high RATE to other cities without acknowledging that our lower property values are the primary driver of that difference. A house being more affordable here doesn’t mean a firetruck or a road crew costs any less.

The number we should be focused on is the tax AMOUNT. So, how has that changed over time?

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Nominations have closed. No one else can put their name in. There might be a few forms being processed now, but pretty soon we should know what the full ballots will look like. There are currently 8 names for Mayor and 25 for Councillor.

I occasionally get asked who else I want to see elected. Since I have to (hopefully) work with whoever gets onto Council, I'm not comfortable telling people who to vote for. However, I'm happy to share what I personally consider when deciding on my vote:

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Below is something I have included in my Platform under my Affordability section. I thought it is an important enough topic that I also wanted to get it posted here.

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