Our new municipal economic reality
Revised property tax increases range from -10 to 6.9% A growing list of municipalities in Greater Victoria are moderating budgets – while remaining very reluctant to reduce staff or make…
Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria
Almost the Best Place on Earth
Revised property tax increases range from -10 to 6.9% A growing list of municipalities in Greater Victoria are moderating budgets – while remaining very reluctant to reduce staff or make…
“Good governance has eight major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law.” – The United Nations…
While the full social and economic cost of the wretched pandemic to Greater Victoria residents won’t be known for months, we already know it’s profoundly life-changing. Nearly 5.4 million Canadians…
Denial, delay or complete dysfunction? Grumpy Taxpayer$ believes that most of the 13 municipalities in Greater Victoria are living in their own expensive reality – a twilight zone – and…
Percentage of local budget ranges from 4.5 to 23.3% Victoria, Esquimalt and Central Saanich continue to spend significantly more of their budget on policing than other municipalities in Greater Victoria,…
Code of Conduct with enforcement needed Taxpayers often wonder about remedies when councillors or a mayor behave badly. There are tools available to address or prevent less-than-responsible conduct by locally…
Road investment levels under review in Saanich After one of the rainiest Januarys on record, the war on potholes and deteriorating roads may have to be ramped up in Saanich.…
There’s something unsettling about politicians suggesting a pay increase of 55 per cent for themselves. When it follows a checkered job performance during the first year of this term, it…
BY JOHN TRELEAVEN AND STAN BARTLETT Local taxpayers are better served with unaligned independent politicians. For starters, Grumpy Taxpayer$ does not support any mayor, councillor or political party, rather we…