Letters to the editor...Cut development charges to pay for a new library

Dear editor, Re: New library coming, but taxpayers will have to pay for it,The Independent & Free Press Feb. 10. It's exciting to read about the new library and I'm very much looking forward to using it when we get it. I also believe there is a way of paying for it without further burdening the residential tax payers. I believe that using $2 million from development charges to help finance it is doing things backwards and is going to hurt our future tax base. For non-residential construction, Halton Hills has the highest development charges in the country. Our high development charges are driving businesses away, rather than attracting them. Our development charges for industrial are over $10 per sq. ft. of new construction, payable before a building permit can be obtained. By comparison, the City of Brantford instituted zero development charges in order to attract new construction and new contributions to their tax base. Over the last three years, two million sq. ft. of new industrial developments considered the Halton Hills 401 Corridor and went to Brantford instead, where they are now contributing $3 million per year to the local tax base. In my view, an attractive solution for financing our new library is to reduce the municipal development charges for non-residential, nonretail to zero in order to stimulate industrial development in the 401 Corridor. The additional tax base would then finance the library without requiring the 5 per cent surcharge on residential properties. Peter Scholz, Limehouse