Over the past week, there have been many people publicising supposed new taxation amounts and how they will impact local residents.
The www.portagemultiplex.com website has had cost calculators available for sometime that allows both City and RM residents to insert their own assessment numbers and see what the total impact of the PCU Centre will be on their individual tax bills.
The numbers used in these calculators have been confirmed by both City and RM officials and were not published until they were verified.
Unlike recent attempts to discredit these numbers by highlighting only certain portions of the costs, these cost calculators strive to take into account all possible costs for the PCU Centre.
These not only include the actual amounts the municipal governments are borrowing, but also interest costs for these loans, the amount that is being pulled from the reserve funds and, of course, the exorbitant annual operating deficit the facility will incur, including the payments to the fair board.
While some people have attempted to zero in on only the 2008 tax increases or point out the taxes are not expected to increase into the future, the real question to ask is what portion of my total municipal taxes are being allocated to the project.
RM taxes have increased in the past two years as money has been funneled into increasing the reserve fund in preparation for this project. There is also the variable of the 2010 provincial property value reassessment that could potentially shift even more taxation towards businesses and farmers.
As other debentures are paid off, perhaps people should ask why their taxes are not going down? Why the rural roads in 2008 have been in the poorest condition in recent memory? Or why Peony Farm residents have been recently informed that in an effort to reduce costs, the RM will not be restoring the areas where the sewer and water upgrades have taken place?
When all the PCU Centre costs are factored in, the total burden on local taxpayers to build and subsidise the PCU Centre over the next 15 years is approximately $52 million.
Anyone who doesn’t look at the full picture is only fooling themselves.
Dwayne Leslie
Poplar Point