All topics Housing Getting Around Climate Food Growth & Planning Budget & Taxes

Jamie Hari

City/Township Council · Waterloo

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All topics Housing Getting Around Climate Food Growth & Planning Budget & Taxes
This 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
  • Actively pursue provincial and federal transfer funding and grants
  • Change the flat percentage tax rate to a progressive tax
  • where the rate is exponentially higher as the value of the property is further from the median property value. In effect
  • houses under the median will see a property tax decrease while mansions will see significant tax increases.
D. Growth & cost recovery
  • Ensure new development pays a greater share of long-term infrastructure costs
  • Re-evaluate development incentives or subsidies that create long-term liabilities
  • Increase a suite of new progressive development fees which aggressively de-incentivize unaffordable development (e.g.
  • punitive surtaxes on units valued more than 100% above the median value)
B. Service levels
  • No cuts to services
  • except cutting the Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) budget by half.
C. Capital & infrastructure
  • Prioritize maintenance and state-of-good-repair over expansion
  • Require lifecycle cost analysis before approving any new infrastructure
  • Defer or cancel capital projects with low long-term return on investment
  • except critical infrastructure projects

Please describe one concrete example of a trade-off you would support (or oppose) when costs rise faster than revenues.candidate's own words

I vehemently oppose setting user fees or creating any new fees that aren't means-tested. It's absolutely unsustainable, not to mention unfair, to ask the most vulnerable to pay any more than they already are.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on budgets?candidate's own words

Human needs are human rights - and should be above the budgetary process. We can debate how much to spend on fireworks and flowers, but there's not debate about how many people in our region should have food and shelter.

If you chose "It should be more transparent and accessible", please describe how.candidate's own words

Enshrining free FOIA requests in the constitution would be nice, but in the meantime having an interactive website like OurCommons.ca for City and Regional councils would be great!