Let's talk about Budget Voting and taxes. But let's talk about them honestly. Because I'm not seeing honesty about these topics on the campaign trail.
The next general election is in October 2026. If I am elected Councillor of Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park on September 29th 2025, I will have the opportunity to vote on one budget.
The Mayor sets the tone of the budget for the Mayor's priorities. My feeling is that the Mayor will be heavier on improving front-line services, while trying to limit tax increases.
Everyone hates taxes going up, and taxes going up without seeing any benefit. We all want to keep property taxes as low as possible, and at the same time see the improvement in services, which I call "Core Services". Core Services include things like: EMS workers, 911 workers, parks, libraries, roads, sewers, transit, recreation facilities...basically all the services that make a city function properly. I hate, and I think most do, wasteful spending. What are recent examples of wasteful spending? For me they are; changing the names of roads/subway stations at an enormous cost to the taxpayer but also local businesses and residents who work or live on that street, putting in expensive infrastructure to only rip it out later, paving a road and then immediately after have service cuts in the road that was just paved, sunk costs on reports that study the same thing over and over. You get the idea.
So I will vote for a budget that reduces wasteful spending and bureaucratic bloat while at the same time improving front-line or core services that we see and use every day.
I alone can't promise to "Cut your taxes", it's one vote on a council of 25 where the Mayor has strong powers to set and over-ride the agenda. So I'm going to treat you, the taxpayer, with respect and outline my views on the subject without reducing it to a slogan I wouldn't be able to fulfill.
Thank you,
Brian Matthews
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