![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageMy letter is in the paper today, alongside one from a Flamborough resident claiming their services have decreased since amalgamation and they're going to refuse to pay the increase in taxes. All of the service decreases have happened across the city - I don't have bulk garbage pick-up either, and it's not because of they city saving money, it's because they want those items being recycled as often as possible, so getting charities to pick them up instead of the city saves both money and landfill space.
The reason: social services costs were downloaded to municipalities by the provincial government around the same time as amalgamation. Hamilton is the poorest big city in the country by a significant margin, so we have more social service costs. The city is not allowed to run a deficit budget (thankfully.) The result: money for services that actually should be governed by municipalities, like sewers and roads, is being diverted to social services, which Hamilton needs far, far more in the inner city than the pleasant, semi-rural suburb of Flamborough ever will.
Meanwhile, Harper and Flaherty sit on their high horses (constructed of equal parts moral superiority and oil revenues from Alberta) and refuse to cough up any of the federal surplus to help aging cities cope with their infrastructure maintenance or new growth, and the provincial government is struggling to stay balanced and still fund all the stuff they've committed to funding - which doesn't include infrastructure cash. (Of course, there's a proposal on the table for a light rail system in Hamilton, which is a fabulous idea if they do it right, but I suspect they won't.)
This didn't start out as a political rant. I suppose I should start over with the other stuff in a new post and leave this one public. :)
The reason: social services costs were downloaded to municipalities by the provincial government around the same time as amalgamation. Hamilton is the poorest big city in the country by a significant margin, so we have more social service costs. The city is not allowed to run a deficit budget (thankfully.) The result: money for services that actually should be governed by municipalities, like sewers and roads, is being diverted to social services, which Hamilton needs far, far more in the inner city than the pleasant, semi-rural suburb of Flamborough ever will.
Meanwhile, Harper and Flaherty sit on their high horses (constructed of equal parts moral superiority and oil revenues from Alberta) and refuse to cough up any of the federal surplus to help aging cities cope with their infrastructure maintenance or new growth, and the provincial government is struggling to stay balanced and still fund all the stuff they've committed to funding - which doesn't include infrastructure cash. (Of course, there's a proposal on the table for a light rail system in Hamilton, which is a fabulous idea if they do it right, but I suspect they won't.)
This didn't start out as a political rant. I suppose I should start over with the other stuff in a new post and leave this one public. :)