As property tax notices come out this week, it won’t be much of a surprise to anyone to see their taxes going up. With well reported infrastructure demands, this is a trend that is bound to continue. Is this trend sustainable for individuals and small business struggling to get by? I truly don’t think it is.
We cannot deny that we need to replace aging sewers and roads, but we also need new municipal infrastructure to accommodate residential and tourism-related growth. New residential taxpayers cover the cost of servicing their homes, but that doesn’t help with replacing current infrastructure.
We need industrial taxpayers to provide additional funds so the district can actually get ahead. The $2 million or more in taxes that will come from Woodfibre LNG, according to its newsletter, will go a long way.
We also can’t ignore the need for well-paying local jobs so that not everyone in Squamish will have to commute to Vancouver to have a job that allows them to afford to live here.
Woodfibre LNG would not consume municipal services, meaning that the new taxes from Woodfibre LNG won’t cost us anything.
Evan Drygas
Squamish
