THE SMART MONEY PLAN

KEEPING TAXES LOW

We Need to Stop Raising Taxes Without Sacrificing the Quality of Needed Services:

THE PROBLEM


  • Even though Vaughan has one of the lowest tax rates in the GTA our residents are struggling to pay property taxes.

    • THE SOLUTION


  • The City provides many needed services and we can’t sacrifice those services to save a buck.
  • I don’t believe and slashing and burning. But I do believe in finding more efficient ways to deliver services and stopping excess spending.
  • I will not vote for a tax increase higher than 3%.
  • The solution to the tax problem is to provide services more efficiently.
  • I have a plan to keep taxes low without reducing the quality of needed services that the City provides.

    • GETTING THINGS DONE (Accomplishments 2014-2018):

    I am proud of our accomplishments over the past 4-years to address The Tax Problem.

  • Stopped the 14.22% project tax increases (2015-2017);
  • Vaughan has one of the lowest tax rates in the GTA;
  • Implemented a policy to ensure no tax rate increases over 3%; and,
  • Budget savings amounted to $30 Million; including more than $260,000.00 in savings through energy projects for City facilities;

    • If Elected I Will to Continue to Implement My 5-Point Tax Plan Which I Call the SMART MONEY PLAN:

    1. RENEW THE 3% LIMIT ON TAX INCREASES AND CONTINUE THE PAY FREEZE FOR ALL CITY AND REGIONAL COUNCILLORS.

    I will not vote for a tax increase higher than 3% and I will work with my colleagues on Council to ensure that they won’t either. In the last erm of Council, we agreed that no tax increase should be more than 3% - I will renew my commitment to this laudable goal in work with my colleague son Council to once again implement a policy that prohibits tax increases of more than 3%.

    Cost cutting must start with freezing council salaries for the next term. If elected, I will make a motion to implement a pay freeze for all City and Regional Councillors within the first 60 days of my term in office. I will not accept a pay increase for the next term.

    2. PROVIDE SERVICES WITH PRIVATE SECTOR EFFICIENCY. CUT WASTE AND MAINTAIN QUALITY OF SERVICES. AUDIT SPENDING AND REWARD STAFF THAT LOWER COSTS AND SAVE THE CITY MONEY.

    The Region and the City provide many needed services for the residents of Vaughan. It is important to audit/assess these services to ensure that they are provided in the most cost efficient manner. I am committed to increasing efficiencies and stopping excess spending.

    If elected I will work toward implementing a bonus system that rewards those who find efficiencies and cut costs while maintaining or increasing current service levels at both the City and Regional levels. I will work toward implementing this program by the end of my first year in office.

    I will also support continuing to conduct service audits/assessments in every City department.

    3. REFORMING CITY PURCHASING RULES. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THE CITY IS GETTING THE BEST POSSIBLE VALUE EVERY TIME IT PURCHASES GOODS AND SERVICES BY REFORMING THE CITY’S PURCHASING RULES AND REQUIRING MORE BIDDING ON THE OPEN MARKET.

    City purchasing rules must be reformed. If elected, I am committed to ensuring that more goods and services are purchased on the open market.

    My priorities will be to:

  • Continue to seek out new and innovative ways to generate income without increasing taxes and/or user fees;
  • Continue to make changes to the Region’s and the City’s purchasing policies to minimize wasteful low value purchases by encouraging the establishment of vendors of record and blanket orders. This will reduce transaction costs, likely result in cost reduction, and result in more purchasing being done through the bidding or tendering process on the open market;
  • Ensure that all award approvals of $100,000.00 + are publicized on a page of the City’s website in plain language, not buried in reports; and,
  • Continue to emphasize purchasing in bulk by determining similar goods and services purchased in multiple City departments and coordinating bulk purchasing.

    • 4. FINDING MORE SUSTAINABLE NON-TAX INCOME GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CITY AND THE REGION.

    The City and the Region must explore new and innovative ways of raising income. There are municipalities throughout the world that have been able to lower taxes and/or have no taxes at all by finding and exploiting sustainable non-tax income generating opportunities.

    My priorities will be to:

  • Continue work to form a corporation modelled after Build Toronto to find opportunities for sustainable income generation – not selling the City’s landholdings, but utilizing them to generate non-tax income streams;
  • Continue to push for the leasing unused City resources to private companies at commercial rates;
  • Continue to push for tasteful advertising opportunities along City roads like you see at bus stops and along the Gardner Expressway in Toronto;
  • Continue to push for licencing naming rights for City community centres not already named like the Hershey Centre in Mississauga and the Powerade Centre in Brampton;
  • Continue to push for leasing ad space around soccer fields like you see in hockey rinks;
  • Continue to push for increasing ads in Regional buses; and,
  • Continue to push for tasteful advertising in City buildings.

    • 5. FIND EFFICIENCIES BY BUYING IN BULK - A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED.

    The Region is made up of 9 local municipalities all of whom purchase similar goods and services. I believe we have to look into coordinating the purchasing of such goods and services to get greater savings that usually go hand in hand with buying in bulk.

    This won’t work for all goods and services. We will need to be smart when deciding what goods and services to buy in bulk and which care better left for municipalities to purchase.