LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ...Mayor is out of touch with taxpayers

Dear editor, Reading the mayor's comments (Mar. 1 The Mayor's Message), the first thing that sprang to mind was he is out of touch with the actual taxpayer. First, the Progressive Conservative government is in power, not the Liberals. Second, has he ever tried to file an appeal with Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) as they do not get off their butts to assess the houses and when you appeal they do not come to your house at all. The easiest tax grab are assessments done from a Toronto office and to actually come and assess the houses would cost the taxpayer more, not less. Every house should be assessed by an actual walk-through, but that would take two years and they would start all over again. That's where the $4 million is going and assessments are done by Toronto firms. The local school situation is brutal as you drive by portable after portable as the town grew too fast and outpaced the revenue. Former mayor Russ Miller would never allow building in our watershed, and tax grabs were done at acceptable levels that never out paced 2-3 per cent as he understood money in the pockets of the people kept the economy flowing. We, the average taxpayers, do understand, Mr. Bonnette as my wallet is empty after every raise I receive because its in one hand and out the other. The builders should pay for the new fire station as we had no problem putting out fires before all the extra housing. Municipalities should be fighting the tax grab from Toronto for social programs with all their might as those programs benefit not one person in Halton. Can you explain how you are fighting the big city of Toronto instead of trying to justify the unacceptable tax grabs year after year? Jim Marshall, Georgetown