Dear Editor:
New Westminster's incumbent city councillors all finally admitted last week that taxes and fees charged to businesses in New West are the highest in Metro Vancouver. I have been driving this conversation in New West for the better part of a year now and I am glad to hear it is finally being acknowledged as a problem after spending many hours researching the city's finances and delivering clear proof.
I'm running for city council because I believe this is the crux of many of the issues that have plagued this city for many years. It is the current DLC backed councillors' stubborn refusal to acknowledge that New West can't attract good retail businesses because of the cost of running a business here and the stubborn refusal to mitigate other issues in the community, like the cost of parking, that are the problem. While New West has become an attractive place for people to live, to make it a community we need more. We need local shops, restaurants and entertainment choices. Choices that can, and should, only be developed if those who invest in New West can make a decent living and yes make a profit to repay the capital investment and as a reward for taking the risks involved in small business enterprises.
As a small business owner and past vice-president of the Downtown Business Improvement Association I have faced these difficult circumstances head on for many years. I personally, like countless others, would like to make the living wage from my business even for just a regular 35- to 40-hour work week, let alone the 50 or more hours I, like most small business owners, work every week.
The hard economic times of the past five years have meant many, many small businesses, here and elsewhere, have seen declines in their business revenues while simultaneously enduring year after year increases in taxes and utility charges. Increases in New West like 20 per cent per year for three years straight for garbage removal. I've talked to members of our business community that have remortgaged their business properties and their homes and extended themselves for extra years to keep their businesses open and provide jobs for themselves and their employees.
Others have invested heavily in upgrading properties and protecting heritage values we, as a community, have recognized as important only to face punishing increases in taxes as a result. One example was an increase of 100 per cent from one year to the next followed by a 300 per cent increase the next.
Many complain that we have too many old and run down properties in our business districts. I agree, but when the simple act of painting the outside of the building can result in substantial tax increases, that make it even harder to make a living, there is no incentive to maintain properties let alone improve them. The voters of New Westminster need to choose; do we want to be a bedroom community with only essential businesses like grocery stores and banks along with cheap fast food restaurants or do we want a vibrant, lively community that embraces people who are ready willing and able to invest here and become the backbone of our livable, walkable city.
The choice is yours to make, vote for a truly independent candidate on Nov. 15 and choose to move our city in the direction all of us want.
Harm Woldring, New Westminster
