Open letter to Whitehorse city council:
Is Whitehorse city council taxing seniors out of their homes?
It is budget time again for the City of Whitehorse and I would like you to consider these facts. I used 2004 and 2011 figures for the following comparisons. As you see, when you say “It’s only four per cent” or something similar, it all adds up to much more.
Our property taxes went from $1,379 per year to $1,826 per year à an increase of $347 or 23.46 per cent.
City utilities increased from $619.80 to $884.04 Ã an increase of $264.24 or 42.63 per cent.
In the same time period, our income (which is only CPP and basic Old Age Pension) increased by only 11 per cent.
When you factor in things like heating fuel, which has increased by 62.7 per cent per litre, and the extra costs involved for seniors to hire paid help for things they used to be able to do for themselves to try to maintain their home, not to mention the same cost of living increases faced by everyone, there is not much, if any, left.
So please consider these facts when you make your budget decisions on property tax increases.
Diana Simpson
Whitehorse