General News · 25th October 2017
Jon from Whaletown
I spend most of my time right here on the island and rarely go to town, so why should my hard earned pension be taxed to subsidize the ferry? I have a boat! I don't need a ferry. Maybe the ferry should pay for itself, like the Hall. I am healthy and don't have to worry about anyone but myself so that goes for health services too. Need a place to go in an emergency ? I can look after myself and you should too. And is it fair that the rest of the province/country should be obliged to subsidize our roads, schools, fire halls, hydro, phones etc. with their taxes & rates for only 1000 residents who elected to live here? Our taxes & fees alone don't pay for these things.
It's not about the $85 I'd save every year, it's just the idea of community that bothers me, of giving anything away that might benefit others and help support a legacy for the next generation, most of whom don't or may never own property. It really is shameful.
So, Cortes, what do you want? Should we support the Hall?
Tongue in Cheek ?
Comment by Walker Evans on 27th October 2017
Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like you are trying to diminish the concerns of those against a hall tax. $85 per year amounts to a 25% increase in property taxes for some people, mainly the poorest landowners. Heck. Some people have barely scraped enough to buy a piece of land and live in a tent or trailer. After 5 years they can vote to increase the $85 to.....who knows. The imposition of a hall tax feels a lot like bullying and is extremely divisive. It is splitting the community and should have never been considered. More creative solutions are out there than this unfair and selective highway robbery.
The real difference
Comment by Jon from Whaletown on 26th October 2017
The real difference is what value people place on community spaces and the benefits they provide, and what they feel they can give to support this. There is no other public place where people can gather and do the many things that we do as a community. Go to any event, always well-attended, and you see only smiling faces. Or we can sit in front of a screen at home every night, in isolation, which many do. I think public space is really essential to the health of our community.
The halls were built for and by earlier people of this island for their and our benefit. I think they would find it hard to understand how we could let that legacy go, or be diminished, over a fairly trivial amount of money.
The difference
Comment by Jack on 26th October 2017
Essential and non-essential services.