Burnaby First wants to end government greed

Dear Editor:

It’s property tax time. For many of us, the massive increase in assessed property values means hundreds of dollars in city tax increases – about 25 per cent  – over 2016. Over the last 10 years, many will have paid increases over $2,000, or 90 per cent. There’s no ‘us versus them’ – homeowners versus renters – in this, as Mayor Derek Corrigan would have it. We all pay property taxes; renters just pay them indirectly.

Is it fair for Corrigan’s one-party rule, NDP-only, corporate and union donor-funded Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA) city council to take advantage of the massive increase in property assessments to grab millions of dollars from us?

The Burnaby First Coalition (BFC) unites the growing diverse opposition seeking fairness at city hall: we say this tax grab is not fair.

Especially considering the BCA billion – that’s with a B: the massive wealth that the BCA hoards. Burnaby’s ever-swelling fiscal reserves stand at nearly $1.5 billion, according to the city’s 2016 financial statement. This includes far more than any reserves required for infrastructure by provincial laws. The city’s budgeted surplus for 2016 was exceeded by $68 million.

But this is not a fully transparent accounting. It does not recognize the current value of over 400 properties the city bought and holds “for resale.” On the books, this is $107.7 million.

But that is a gross misrepresentation. It is the total of the amounts paid for these properties as long ago as 1918, a century before today’s punishing property prices. There’s at least one property the city paid a mere $125 for (you read that right).

Fiscal transparency? BFC seeks it; we do not have that under the BCA. The real value of these properties held for resale is a secret, as are the addresses. The city refuses to disclose the information, though some favoured developers manage to locate and purchase these properties.

“The city is unable to disclose the specific addresses of all properties held for resale, their purchase price and date of purchase as it would be harmful to the economic interests of the city to do so,” emailed Bob Klimek, deputy director of finance.

Of course, the BCA is not “unable to disclose”; it is unwilling to be transparent. And transparency would not be “harmful” except to favoured developer-donors and their buddies at city hall.

This annual excessive surplus and the massive hoard demonstrate financial mismanagement: over taxation and government greed.

What have we got to show for the expense? Greater livability? No – especially not for the thousands of city taxpaying renters facing demoviction in Metrotown whom the BCA apparently does not want to live here at all.

BFC seeks fair taxation, transparent finances, a halt to demovictions and an end to one-party rule.

Charter Lau, Heather Leung, Nick Kvenich and  Helen Ward, Burnaby First Coalition