-- CTF Analysis Points to Likely Return to 80s-style Double Digit Tax Hikes Under Tri-City Service Board Regime --

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released an analysis of spending and taxation at the Region of Ottawa-Carleton over the past 20 years. The analysis clearly indicates that financial decisions at the Region have been more taxpayer friendly since the advent of a directly elected Regional Chair and especially a directly elected Regional Council since 1994.

"The numbers don't lie, direct elections of councilors to the region have ensured that taxpayers have been better protected," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "Throughout the 1980s taxpayers were subjected to tax and water bill increases routinely above 10% going as high as 20.71% in 1989."

"The reason why this happened was a lack of accountability or scrutiny. Suburban mayors used to crow about holding the line on their own taxes then blindly voted to jack the regional portion of the tax bill sky high," said Robinson. "Now they're asking us to return to this type of arrangement with appointed service boards under their tri-city model. No thank you, we've been to this movie before and we paid through the teeth."

The CTF analysis, culled from publicly available documentation, shows that the cash impact (tax and water bills) for regional services has actually been negative for the past six years when all changes to the regional budget have been factored in.

"The writing is on the wall for all municipalities. The best solution for our over-governed region is one-city, one-tier, where intense public and media scrutiny can be focussed on one council to ensure that the line is held on taxes," added Robinson. "Moreover, if the provincial government actually legislates a savings target, the new "City of Ottawa" will be forced to embrace alternate service delivery and municipal privatization which will result in further savings for taxpayers."

The CTF has requested to meet with special advisor Glen Shortliffe to discuss its tax findings and its ideas for alternate service delivery. The CTF has also published a five-part series of commentaries on municipal restructuring available on its website at click here.