Tax Policy
Property taxes and user fees are the foundation of local government. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the Mayor to set clear priorities and to show the necessary leadership to ensure that these priorities are met. It is the Mayor’s job to understand what is most important to the public and put forward a Budget to Council that reflects these priorities.
Jim Watson is committing to a 2.5% tax increase – a responsible commitment that is affordable, predictable and protects our City’s valuable public services. Ensuring a predictable path for taxes will require making and sticking to some tough choices. It will require collaboration with and buy-in from managers and from council.
I will start by:
- Being active in the City’s financial planning and pushing for change on a day-to-day basis;
- Working with staff to address the absentee problem at the City and set a goal of reducing it by at least 10%, saving the City at least $2.7m a year;
- Working with staff to better manage overtime. The Auditor General has identified this as a significant cost-saving opportunity;
- Working with Council to restrict the delegated authority of committees to take decisions with significant budget impacts without the prior approval of Council. Under the current system, every year decisions get made under this delegated authority that creates massive budget pressure;
- Convening a quarterly meeting of the Audit Budget and Finance Committee to track progress on all Auditor General money-saving recommendations;
- Conduct a city-wide review of external consulting services, with a view to reducing the City’s dependency on external consultants and finding taxpayer savings of $5 million each year for the next four years;
- Make strategic capital investments in new technology to reduce travel and other administrative costs, such as video-conferencing between City of Ottawa facilities.
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