Wideman’s plan for LRT financing
Posted Jun 7, 2011 02:16:58 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional Councillor, Jim Wideman, is coming to the financial rescue of the Light Rail Transit plan.
Wideman submitted a memo to Council during the Planning and Works Committee meeting today outlining a plan for the Region to pay for its share of the roughly $800 million plan.
He says the memo is to “clarify and correct any misinformation” circulating about the financing of LRT, and that his plan will decrease the tax impact of LRT significantly.
Wideman’s plan proposes budget savings from the retirement of debt on Regional headquarter buildings on Frederick Street in Kitchener and Regina Street in Waterloo, plus savings on uploading social assistance costs, could all be put toward LRT.
There would be an annual tax increase of 0.7% over seven years, for a total of 4.9% for rapid transit capital and operating costs.
There would also be an additional 0.3% tax increase over the same years, specifically for improvements to conventional transit.
That makes for a total of 1% more tax per year for seven years in Wideman’s plan.
The bottom line to Regional taxpayers for LRT alone, according to Wideman, would be $11.26 more tax per year for seven years on a home assessed at about a quarter-million dollars.
The bottom line for the overall cost of the Rapid Transit Master Plan would mean an extra $16.08 extra tax per year for seven years for the same home.
Wideman’s plan will come up as a motion to be voted on during the June 15 Council meeting, the scheduled date for the final decision on the future of rapid transit in Waterloo Region.
Here is a clip from Wideman’s interview with 570’s Mark Douglas…
