To the editor:
District of Lake Country refuses to separate CN corridor tax increase.
When I received my tax notice this year I noticed a very big increase from last year's tax notice.
So then I sent an email to Mayor Baker and the rest of council asking how much of the increase was for the purchase of the CN Rail corridor. They then passed my email on to Rose Bronswyk Kassa (financial services manager). She said for this year they only requested $60,000 to service the debt for the rail corridor and it was lumped in with the rest of the municipal taxes.
I then told her that all tax increases for this should be separated on our tax notices much the same as school taxes are. Her answer to this was that the District of Lake Country would not be segregating this capital purchase on our tax notice.
If you recall leading up to the referendum on this purchase, Mayor Baker was telling everyone that it was only going to cost us $27 per year increase in taxes based on a property valued at $465,000. By lumping this tax in with the rest of the municipal taxes we will never know how much each property owner is paying and in fact by the time the 20 years is up you will have paid much more than the $27 per year starting at the $465,000 level.
I am asking all Lake Country property owners to call Mayor Baker and the councillor for your ward and get them to change future tax notices so that we can each see exactly how much we are paying each year for the rail corridor as everyone will be different according to the value of your property.
Ron Volk, Lake Country