Metchosin and amalgamation? Thanks, but no thanks
Times Colonist Letters,
November 29, 2014
Can you imagine owners of 10-acre parcels of land in this area paying almost half the amount of property tax as someone who lives on a city lot in Victoria?
Can you imagine living in a municipality where none of the employees are making six figures and only one makes more than $75,000? Can you imagine living in a district that saves up its money to replace an aging bridge and manages not to increase taxes, have cost overruns, or go into debt in order to complete the project?
Can you imagine composting on your own land instead of arguing about who will pick up household waste, who will compost it or whether the composting facility will cause grief to the neighbours?
Can you imagine being satisfied with the snail-like population growth of your municipality without worrying about rapid development, high-rise buildings, traffic congestion, bus routes versus bike routes, traffic lights, drunks in your municipal core, increased policing costs to counter the issues of all that rapid growth?
Can you imagine having a money allocation and a 20-year plan (yes, that’s five elections from now) for replacing firefighting equipment? Can you imagine driving on smooth roads because they don’t need to be constantly dug up to add new buildings to the water and sewer systems?
Well, I can imagine all of that, because that describes my municipality of Metchosin.
Oh sure, I work in another municipality, so I buy my groceries and gas outside mine in order to contribute to the economy and maintenance of that area. I do travel on other municipalities’ roads, so that has some effect, I suppose, on amalgamation questions, but since others travel through mine, I expect that there is some balance in the issues of wear and tear on streets.
I don’t worry when paid Capital Regional District employees come into our district to work in their parks, but since we manage to maintain our own parks without CRD or other paid employees doing the work, I do question their role inside our boundaries and I therefore anticipate an increase in employees in an amalgamated entity.
I don’t have any simple solutions, but I am 100 per cent certain that the lifestyle of the residents of our district would not receive a single benefit from joining a much larger entity. However, I would see that situation creating a cash-cow for that entity as it drains our coffers to pay for the larger entity’s projects and an expansion of its employee base to cover the work currently done by volunteers here.
I would see an eventual erosion of our rural ambience as the pressures to expand, grow and develop are thrust upon us from that larger entity.
I am happy with our current situation in Metchosin and can see absolutely no benefit to us being studied or even being included in some regional plan for some form of amalgamation. Sorry, I’m not in a generous frame of mind when I see other municipalities going deeper and deeper into debt and having great plans for big projects and seeing large holes in the ground for years, constant construction on the roads.
I have no wish to pay for that kind of regional inconvenience, extravagance or uncontrolled rapid growth. Let’s get a serious grip on what is going on now before asking others to pay for lack of foresight, planning, co-ordination and co-operation.
I simply do not have any confidence that a reorganized region will change anything or make it better; the same problems will continue, but with a much larger and burgeoning bureaucracy to keep things moving.
Stephen Sawyer is a Metchosin resident.
© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist Letters,
November 29, 2014
Can you imagine owners of 10-acre parcels of land in this area paying almost half the amount of property tax as someone who lives on a city lot in Victoria?
Can you imagine living in a municipality where none of the employees are making six figures and only one makes more than $75,000? Can you imagine living in a district that saves up its money to replace an aging bridge and manages not to increase taxes, have cost overruns, or go into debt in order to complete the project?
Can you imagine composting on your own land instead of arguing about who will pick up household waste, who will compost it or whether the composting facility will cause grief to the neighbours?
Can you imagine being satisfied with the snail-like population growth of your municipality without worrying about rapid development, high-rise buildings, traffic congestion, bus routes versus bike routes, traffic lights, drunks in your municipal core, increased policing costs to counter the issues of all that rapid growth?
Can you imagine having a money allocation and a 20-year plan (yes, that’s five elections from now) for replacing firefighting equipment? Can you imagine driving on smooth roads because they don’t need to be constantly dug up to add new buildings to the water and sewer systems?
Well, I can imagine all of that, because that describes my municipality of Metchosin.
Oh sure, I work in another municipality, so I buy my groceries and gas outside mine in order to contribute to the economy and maintenance of that area. I do travel on other municipalities’ roads, so that has some effect, I suppose, on amalgamation questions, but since others travel through mine, I expect that there is some balance in the issues of wear and tear on streets.
I don’t worry when paid Capital Regional District employees come into our district to work in their parks, but since we manage to maintain our own parks without CRD or other paid employees doing the work, I do question their role inside our boundaries and I therefore anticipate an increase in employees in an amalgamated entity.
I don’t have any simple solutions, but I am 100 per cent certain that the lifestyle of the residents of our district would not receive a single benefit from joining a much larger entity. However, I would see that situation creating a cash-cow for that entity as it drains our coffers to pay for the larger entity’s projects and an expansion of its employee base to cover the work currently done by volunteers here.
I would see an eventual erosion of our rural ambience as the pressures to expand, grow and develop are thrust upon us from that larger entity.
I am happy with our current situation in Metchosin and can see absolutely no benefit to us being studied or even being included in some regional plan for some form of amalgamation. Sorry, I’m not in a generous frame of mind when I see other municipalities going deeper and deeper into debt and having great plans for big projects and seeing large holes in the ground for years, constant construction on the roads.
I have no wish to pay for that kind of regional inconvenience, extravagance or uncontrolled rapid growth. Let’s get a serious grip on what is going on now before asking others to pay for lack of foresight, planning, co-ordination and co-operation.
I simply do not have any confidence that a reorganized region will change anything or make it better; the same problems will continue, but with a much larger and burgeoning bureaucracy to keep things moving.
Stephen Sawyer is a Metchosin resident.
© Copyright Times Colonist