By Staff
January 23rd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
We are told that the Mayor’s Office is telling people that the BRAG numbers are wrong.
This information came to us from a reliable source, but it was secondhand. Tracking what comes out of the Office of the Mayor is difficult when there is next to nothing in terms of their communicating with the Gazette.
A taxpayer did his version of what the taxes were over a number of years as well as calculating the cumulative tax rate.
Here is what a resident sent us.
The numbers displayed in this article are basically the same as those BRAG produced.
Taxes are a fact of life. They tend to go up – they can be reduced but in reality, not that much.
The challenge for Burlington has two parts: A city hall that will be honest and direct with the taxpayers; and taxpayers that accept what the city is up against.
Burlington has been told that it must grow its population. More people means more in the way of services and those services cost money. Both sides need to grow up and accept the realities.
The hard part is dealing with a pay rate within city hall that is much higher than that paid in the private sector. That is where the problem is and coming to terms with that is close to an impossible task. Civil servants at the municipal level are paid much more than that paid in the private sector. Add to that benefits that are just plain very good.
It would take decades to bring about a change and it would probably have to be done at the provincial level.
The upside? Encourage your children to find work at the municipal level.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column reflecting the observations and musings of the publisher of the Gazette, an on-line newspaper that is in its 12th year as a news source in Burlington and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
Did anyone else receive their property tax bill, it looks a lot different, not any cheaper, just different.
Well, I have heard from a normally reliable source that a telling comment came out of the Mayor’s Office – to the effect that “BRAG doesn’t get anything right”. Well, I can’t attest to it and probably shouldn’t be relaying third hand information but I can just imagine a bright young thing, part of MMW’s Office retinue, repeating the comment in a moment of poor judgement and infatuation with their proximity to power. BRAG’s numbers are correct and no matter how many times City Hall disputes them they won’t become less so. But do the people care enough to remember all this in October of 2026?
To quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt “Repeating a lie a hundred times doesn’t make it true”. Repeating the same mantra, without supporting documentation to defend your claim, is disingenuous at least and dishonest at worst.
The citizen who provided the above chart, along with Eric Stern from BRAG and countless other residents across this community, have repeatedly provided documentation to substantiate their claims about recent municipal tax increases. Simply, the city has not. Tax increases of the order and magnitude of the past few years are unsustainable given the significant economic threats households are facing. In the National Post this morning it says 50% of Canadian households are spending all of their income on household expenditures. The number of people using food banks is at a record high.
There are enough communication staff at city hall. Find a better way to communicate tax increases in a manner that is accurate and properly reflects what is happening. Stop expending time, money, energy, effort and attention trying to discredit BRAG when you, the Mayor and Council know we are just speaking the truth.
Finally, rather than gaslighting the public, perhaps attention would be better directed to identifying economies, savings and reduction of unnecessary expenditures. Eric Stern proposed a 14 page list of 35 recommendations on things that could be eliminated, reduced or capped. Rather than dismissing them out of hand as you so hurriedly did, perhaps city hall staff should create a sub-committee to examine them in detail. If you can’t originate then plagiarize, and if you can’t lead get the hell out of the way and let those who can assume the mantle of leadership.
As commented previously, the biggest problem is complacency. The majority of residents don’t get involved, either because they’re too busy, don’t think it’ll help, or just don’t know what’s going on. It’s sad, frustrating, annoying and infuriating when lack of engagement lets issues like this slide.
Some of us understand the gaslighting, the lack of accountability, and outright incompetence of this group at City Hall ….. on almost every level.
It’s maddening when leadership prioritizes appearances over accountability.
Photo ops, vanity projects and PR help them minimize real issues.
BRAG started this. Perhaps their further engagement could spark more interest ….. like a petition, a public forum, or even media coverage? Sometimes people get motivated when they see how it directly affects their wallets or their community.