LONDON CITY BUDGET: Put lid on spending, residents tell council
Jonathan Sher, City Hall Reporter
The London Free Press
November 11, 2005

Stop spending our money.


That was the key message of Londoners who challenged next year's budget, as city politicians and staff invited input at Masonville Place.

One of four drop-in sessions (others were at Argyle, White Oaks and Westmount malls) the event at Masonville wasn't noticed by most shoppers.

But what participants lacked in numbers, they made up for with passion.

"They should have a sign on everybody's desk at city hall that says, "It's not your money," Londoner David Morrison told Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell, who also serves as the city's budget chief.

Taxpayers have been suffering because city council went on a spending spree for costly projects such as the John Labatt Centre, Morrison said.

"No business would have spent that amount of money in that short a time. You spend within your means," he said.

The drain of cash has left the city unable to keep up with basic needs such as roads -- potholes plague major streets such as Western Road, he said.

Also taking aim at the JLC was Lorne Pelechaty, who said his anger over the debt increased when he was unable to buy a ticket for a sold-out hockey game.

"I can't get a ticket and I've been paying taxes since the 1950s," Pelechaty said.

Also upset was former ward councillor Bob Mann, who told Controller Bud Polhill the city signed a "lousy" deal that left its private-sector partner making all the money.

Polhill disagreed, saying, "If it wasn't for that deal, (the JLC) wouldn't be there."

Since 2000, property taxes on his northeast London home have jumped from $2,100 to $3,200, Mann said, the leap caused in part by rapid development whose costs have exceeded its benefits.

When Gosnell told Londoner Frank Bennett the city needed more growth, not less, Bennett responded, "Every time you talk growth our taxes go up. . . . We're spending more than we're getting back."

This year's turnout was down from last year, when London was proposing a tax hike of 10.9 per cent -- triple what's expected this year once assessment growth is calculated.

"It's been very slow. Not like last year," Ward 2 Coun. Joni Baechler said.

City staff have proposed a budget of $858.2 million, which includes $611.3 million in operating costs, an increase of about 9.2 per cent or $52 million more than this year.

Along with boosts to its water and sewer budget, the increases would add $104 to the tax bill of a home assessed at $152,000 and see a $50 rise in water and sewer fees.

The city will host a budget open house tomorrow at the London Convention Centre from 9 a.m. until noon.