Editor:
Similar to the 1955 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, pay parking has, once again (as a result of the recently completed $100,000 Transportation Master Plan) risen from the crypt.
The big difference is that the majority of townspeople (as indicated by the overwhelming majority – 1,138 (81.2 per cent) against pay parking and only 263 in favour that voted in the March 2000 plebiscite forced by Ossie Treutler Sr.’s petition – thank you Ossie) are not laughing at the spectre of pay parking.
Town officials may not care about taxpayer reaction to their resurrection of this monster as pay parking may have been floated as a red herring designed to divert our attention from the school tax requisition nightmare that the Province recently created for us.
The Province has eliminated the Averaging and Capping Formula, which had given Banff and Jasper National Parks a preferential (reduced) education tax rate for more than 10 years. The ACF was introduced because the Province recognized that education taxes paid by Banff leaseholders were far higher than the average education taxes paid by most Alberta property owners as a result of our higher property values.
Additionally, the ACF was possibly introduced as an alternative to granting us Resort Municipality Status. Banff politicians feel that we are deserving of the tax breaks that would result from Resort Municipality Status because, as Mayor Sorensen has stated: “We flush toilets for 25,000 (people) a day (during busy periods), on a tax base of 8,000 (people).”
As a result of the elimination of the ACF, Banff taxpayers will likely be saddled with a tax increase of at least six per cent, although I’ve read reports that the tax increase could be as high as 16.3 per cent. I must emphasize that this increase is due to additional taxes that the Province forces the Town to collect in order to fund education. It must also be emphasized that substantially more education tax dollars leave the Town than are returned to the Town.
To date we have not heard what our council is doing to address this huge tax increase, although it was reported in the March 28 Outlook that “Administration will bring back alternatives for budget amendments and tax rates at the end of April.”
Most importantly, our MLA, Ron Casey, should be working aggressively on our behalf to reduce the education tax grab.
Mr. Casey, what are you doing to help your Banff constituents on this issue?
This would be a good time for the provincial government to grant Resort Municipality Status to Banff.
Jon Whelan,
Banff
