Too many taxes

Dear Mr. Mayor,

I'm writing this letter to tell you that you and the rest of city council have got to put the brakes on with your insane spending habits. We don't have the tax base for this sort of spending.

I just received my utility bill and much to my chagrin, I see it is much, much higher than I was anticipating. I understand that these added funds are to be used for much needed upgrades in our infrastructure. My biggest concern is this; we have a huge outstanding debit as a result of the white elephant we have in Campbell Park which I was against when it was first proposed. Due to childish behaviour between our mayor and the mayor of Sturgeon County, it ended up being placed in an area that is more accessible to Edmonton residents than it is to people that live on the North side of St. Albert. It also was supposed to be self -sustaining financially and as we all know that has turned out to be incorrect. I have a feeling that I'll be paying for the recreation centre for the rest of my life.

Here's an idea, rather than acting on your desire for the downtown revitalization plan you have decided is a $33 million necessity, why don't you wait until we have all recovered from the current debit we have right now. This is what fiscally responsible people and governments do. Given the recent provincial budget all Albertans were nailed with a huge increase in taxes, federally we are being taxed heavily. You can't keep on spending like we are a bottomless bucket of money. Our wages are not going up like politicians' wages are. I urge you to reconsider this added $33 million expenditure, the average person has less and less money to spend on essential needs and our cost of living keeps going up.

Between the three levels of government each taking more and more out of our pockets, they will eventually succeed in breaking us all. We can't afford this anymore, again, I strongly urge you to stop with the constant spending.

Don Walker, St. Albert