I am trying to figure out who Councillor Wes Brodhead is championing with his support of a new electric usage franchise fee (Gazette, Feb. 23). I am trying to figure out why my electricity provider pays a fee to transmit to my house and now the city wants to make me pay a tax on my usage.
Wes tells us that by doing this, our taxes will be lowered. How come I don't believe this? Where will the money go when we get an increase in taxes and then we are told they used this franchise fee, I mean tax, to lower the hit? I say leave our taxes like they are so we don't disguise what we are paying right now which are property taxes. A water fee to use it, let it go down the drain and then clean it. We used to pay to use it and drain it, now we pay another amount to recycle it.
The stormwater addition is $250 per year. It is a triple hit. We pay to use a facility that most of us have paid for years on our tax bill, yet another fee to go in and use the facilities along with the throng coming from Edmonton who pays no tax on the facility. We pay a natural gas utility fee of about $100 per year, along with the gas company paying to transmit to St. Albert. Now they want to charge us to use electricity that they don't generate. So here is the tax bill, $4,000 average taxes for school, recreational facility, and property taxes; $200 per year for stormwater; $100 per year for natural gas; and then another $200 per year for electricity. So my property taxes are really about $4,500 per year and growing, about 15% of it in extra fees.
So Wes, who are you championing? You will raise the cost of businesses in St. Albert and how are we going to attract tech companies who use lots of power? We built a business park for them. You are championing yet another tax to hurt residents and want to hide it outside of our normal property taxes. You certainly aren't my champion and if you would have let the voters know in the last election you were going to champion this, you would have not been elected.
So Wes, what have you done for the people of St. Albert other than help raise taxes and wages for city employees and administration? Ah yes, now we know whose champion you are as the proposal and idea came from city administration.
Ted Durham, St. Albert
