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While in the throesof the 2019-2022 operating budget debate, I knew something was amiss.

We were staring at a 3.3 per cent budget increase. Most of the new priorities identified by council were not included within that and we had close to 130 public speakers; half telling us to spend more and the other half telling us to spend less.

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Memorable presentations from DATS users told us how insufficient current funding levels were for this critical service and dozens of business owners told us that the cumulative government tax burden was crushingthem.

Politicians often lamenthow people always want better services and lower taxes as “obviously” contradictory objectives. Yet perhaps it’s not citizens who should be lamented, but us. We need to shift our mindset toward one where we demonstrate more precise value for taxpayer dollarsand where we learn to do more with less.

This isn’t easy, butwith property taxes getting unbearably high for homeowners and businesses, we need to dig deeper. It starts with the city changing how we budget as an organization. Right now, previous budgets are the primary drivers of new budgets. New priorities for counciland citizens are left on the outside looking in unless they’re funded with more tax increases.