Skip to content

EDITORIAL: PoCo taxpayers should have a say about surplus

Port Coquitlam had some very good reasons for not handing back $420,000 collected from taxpayers in error last year or using that unexpected surplus to reduce the budget next year.

Port Coquitlam had some very good reasons for not handing back $420,000 collected from taxpayers in error last year or using that unexpected surplus to reduce the budget next year.

But given the spotlight on budget deficits, debt and taxation in the recent provincial election as well as last week's Big Spenders report on the so-called bloating of city spending in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver over the last 12 years, you would think more people would be outraged.

Instead, the response in PoCo seems to be a big yawn. But that doesn't mean people don't care. More likely, they are simply resigned to the fact that taxes, like death, are simply part of life and they rarely, if ever, go down.

It's true that sending off a cheque to every household would cost more in time and money than the payout would likely be worth (about $17 based on the reduction to this year's property taxes). Putting the money down on next year's costs would seem to be a good idea but, as the city points out, it would be a one-time deal that would be unsustainable.

Instead, the money will be used to pay for other probably worthwhile things, such as closed-circuit video equipment for the RCMP. As well, with the 1% error (a duplication of its infrastructure levy ) factored in, taxpayers will pay less in taxes than originally expected this year (a 2.84% increase instead of 3.7%).

It's also true that PoCo shaved off numerous expenses to minimize the tax hike. For example, the city won't groom baseball diamonds as often and proposals to increase fire and police staffing were reduced or nixed.

Nobody is saying PoCo is gouging residents, especially after this year's painful budget limiting exercise, but more questions remain: What can be done to prevent the error from happening again and could the city have been more transparent in dealing with the issue?

PoCo must continue to be scrupulous in keeping the public informed and, if possible, should ask those who forked over the cash how they would like to see the surplus spent.