The ToL Budget Is Our Future

What kind of Township do you desire for you and your family?

Public input on the ToL budget will take place next Wednesday and Thursday. As was fully expected, Mayor Rick Green and his slate captain, Councillor Kim Richter have put out their spin. The mayor says he put together a "well-qualified finance committee" (qualifications of most members are very questionable).  They came up with the need for a .93% property tax increase and there is much we can cut and new things we can try.

Reality is that the committee's recommendation of a .93% cannot be substantiated and the mayor has been unable to explain it from the beginning. He referred all questions to staff and staff were not present at the private finance committee meetings. Plundering required reserves and leaving scores of infrastructure items UNFUNDED is not a proper budget Mr. Mayor. 

Bob Long's 5% proposal is sound and follows all of the studies that have been done, including a 2004 report that involved over 500 ToL residents and a bunch more for the second half of the study. They determined in 2004 that the ToL would have to raise 4% per year and that was without full-time fire. 5% would fund our roads and keep our assets from crumbling. 5% will fund much-needed projects during a time where lots of provincial and federal dollars are there to help us, if we can pay our share. A 5% increase will prevent the ToL from quickly turning into a crumbling, deteriorating welfare state of desperation. 

Councillor Kim Richter is dyed in the wool NDP, and you know what the NDP does with fudge-it budgets and terrible financial decisions that run communities into the ground on the fast-track. Mayor Rick Green is attached at the hip with Richter and YOU cannot allow them to destroy OUR Langley Township. Those two have cooked up this plot for a long time now. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy for them to blame council for ANY tax increase. 

Council was generally prepared to compromise with Green on a 3.95% tax increase that would still provide challenges in future years. But the mayor's arrogant statement that he would not support a 5% nor even a 3.95% increase (when he knows reality full well), caused council to vote to take a proposed 5% out to the people for comment and input, for the good of our community. It was a very prudent decision. At 5%, that would add $64.18 to the average household (based on a home valued at $478K). 

The future is yours Langley. You can pay a reasonable amount now, or you can be sacked later with the need for huge tax increases of up to 15% or more to play catch-up. The later is simply NOT an option. Don't let Mayor Rick Green and Councillor Kim Richter cause our community to crumble.