PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor regarding local and Regional budgets:
Over the past few weeks, PelhamToday graciously printed both of my harsh critiques of the Region's budget. Thank you for that.
To be fair, I really should compliment the Town of Pelham's council and staff for the result of their budget deliberations — holding spending increases to 3.77 percent. Not great, but certainly better than the disgraceful performance of the Region.
The Mayor's observation that in spite of the high average income in Pelham there are still a large number of residents well below that average and as a result the Town must recognize that many constituents are struggling with high prices for almost everything they purchase. The Town needn't add to that burden.
Quite a contrast to the Region — slapping us with a 6 percent increase in 2023 and following up with a 7 percent increase for 2024. Clearly a culture change is in order at the Region, one that focusses on efficiency and productivity, and like Pelham's administration, that figures out how to not unduly add to the burden on already stressed constituents.
I'm rather hoping that taxpayers in Niagara Region, who do figure out how to do more with less, finally rise up and demand that the Regional Council begin to do better and not submit to these outrageous (13.6 percent over the past two years) demands for ever bigger budgets. It's long past time that they begin to manage regional responsibilities much more efficiently. Because right now they are not.
The Ford government chickened out on its plan to do away with that extra layer of regional government in Peel, where it is relatively easy, so it's unlikely that that extra burden will ever be lifted off of our shoulders.
Email addresses for Regional Council can be found here. Let them know what you think.
Don Rodbard
Fonthill
