Will take time to absorb all these budgets

As you have probably noticed by now, this week's edition of the Sentinel is rather heavy with budget news.

That's understandable, seeing as both the federal and provincial governments brought down their budgets last week, and King councillors spent about four hours wading through pages of material Monday night.

Despite the fact we're talking about different levels of government and varying party affiliations, it is clear that these budgets are not developed in vacuums. What Jim Flaherty announced in the House of Commons in Ottawa last Monday is going to impact in some way in what King councillors are expected to deal with. The most striking example so far is the announcement Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara made Thursday that GTA pooling to finance social programs in Toronto is going to be phased out. That will have an impact on York Region's budget this year (the Region is working on a budget too, don't forget), and Mayor Margaret Black observed Monday night that could offset part of the tax hike the Township eventually approves.

Budgets are formidable documents. This newspaper office has obtained a copy of the budget package that Sorbara brought down last week, and it amounts to more than 200 pages of mind-numbing facts, figures and politicking, with certain implications being readily apparent, while others will be more completely grasped in the fullness of time.

People in this area cheered Flaherty last Monday because $12 million has been committed to the protection and preservation of the Lake Simcoe environment.

Municipal politicians gave Sorbara a standing ovation when he addressed a budget breakfast in Vaughan Monday and commented on the phasing out of the pooling. But we in Ontario are still paying the health care premium, a tax increase Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged we wouldn't see four years ago when he was seeking his current job.

Municipal politicians discussed a range of issues Monday night directly related

to the budget, while they

also had to continue fielding

Letters to the Editor

Some facts about

King Township growth

The March 14 edition of the King Weekly included an article on the 2006 census

indicating that there had been little growth in the township in the previous five years.

True! The article also contained comments that a "little" future growth was desirable. The description "little" hardly stands up in the light of proposed developments in the pipeline. Your readers may not be aware of them. The salient facts are: + Number of residential properties in King today - 7,016. + New houses on lands already designated for concerns that some people still have that something bad is in the works for Nobleton Community Hall.

And all this talk and paper is going to be determined how much we have to pay in taxes this year.

The answers are coming,

but they're going to take a

while.

about

growth

development- 3,300. + New houses on lands held for development - 2,200. + New houses in hamlets and country areas - ?

A 78 per cent increase on the existing 7,016.

Add commercial/industrial development in the three villages, plus that proposed astride Highway 400 immediately to the South of King.

It is argued that increased growth is required to broaden the tax base. There are more desirable alternatives to increasing the tax base without attendant sprawl. Firstly to reduce or eliminate the subsidies taxpayers as a whole are paying to others. Secondly to ensure that existing properties are correctly valued for tax purposes. Unless very firm action taken to control and reduce prospective development, the vision of King as a green oasis in the GTA is no more than wishful thinking.

R.J. Martin,

Kettleby