David Alton
City/Township Council · Kitchener
Back to candidatesThis candidate finalized their responses after this guide and scoring methodology was published.
Budget & Taxes
Do you think the Region's or municipality's budget process should be more transparent and accessible to residents?single choice
It should be more transparent and accessible
Municipal and regional costs have generally risen faster than revenues restricted by property tax rules and limited local revenue tools. How would you balance tax increases against maintaining service levels and long-term financial sustainability?select up to 3 per part
A. Revenue approaches
- Exploring new local revenue tools where permitted by provincial legislation
- I am interested in exploring density based property taxes to better reflect the cost of land use. I want to learn on land acquisition
- land leasing and social housing construction to get more of the land portfolio into financial sustainability
D. Growth & cost recovery
- Re-evaluate development incentives or subsidies that create long-term liabilities
B. Service levels
- Housing services need to increase as this economic situation worsens. I would look for savings from police budget and a reduced reliance on PPPs and consultants. Leveraging vacancy tax
- land leasing
- and social housing as revenue tools.
C. Capital & infrastructure
- Prioritize maintenance and state-of-good-repair over expansion
- Require lifecycle cost analysis before approving any new infrastructure
Please describe one concrete example of a trade-off you would support (or oppose) when costs rise faster than revenues.candidate's own words
Setting up a designated percentage of tax to go toward social housing construction.
If you chose "It should be more transparent and accessible", please describe how.candidate's own words
The budget needs to treated as a public education process. Like people's property tax returns should delineate how much of the budget is programs that were set up due to provincial and federal neglect. And it should single out the police budget which the province has insulated from accountability