EdmontonCityCouncil

I've often said "it's easy to spend someone else's money" and there is no better proof of that than government spending. Governments at all levels depend on taxpayers to fund their schemes and dreams and if and when there is a shortfall, they know they can always raise the tax rate and City Council may be considering this month..

City Council Council will need to decide whether raise the propert tax rate to 8.1% as recommended, cut services or add new programs that will increase the rate. Budget discussions are set to start Nov. 13 at city hall.

Many times over the years I've been reminded of a common sense colloquialism I first heard decades ago. The saying was "no matter how thin you slice it, baloney still has 2 sides" meaning there is more than one way to consider something. Whether one agrees with Lorne Gunter's columns or not, he often brings a contrarian perspective (another side) that is worthy of consideration, such as he expressed in his latest column below.

Residents, community groups and business owners have shared concerns with city council about knives being sold at local stores. It is obvious from looking at these knives that they are dangerous and there were 532 knife-related events in the downtown core alone last year including a number of homicides.

In April, City administration was asked to look at how to best address the problem of knives being sold in convenience stores. The City is limited in what it can do to prohibit the sale of knives since it is the federal government that rules over criminal matters involving knives and prohibited weapons.

Lorne Gunter confirms what I've said many times that it's easy to spend someone else's money. To fund its agenda Edmonton Council has become very good at it. Yes, they deflect by saying their reckless spending will be covered by raising local taxes, the province or Ottawa but taxpayers know the money inevitably comes out of their and their families' pockets. Its time for some serious accountability NOW by the individual councillors, moratorium on spending and raising taxes, cost budget cutting where possible. Another aspect of accountability to the taxpayers is the polling booth. And the polling booth serves to remind us of the saying "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" and the song lyrics "I won't get fooled again".