Fight for Farmland not a fan of proposed 51% tax increase in Wilmot

As reaction to the proposed 51 per cent tax increase in Wilmot Township continues, the group fighting the Region of Waterloo’s land acquisition plans is weighing in.

Fight for Farmland, spokesperson, Alfred Lowrick spoke on The Mike Farwell Show about the matter. He echoed what others have said about the proposed tax hike.

“It comes from decades of bad fiscal management.”

Lowrick said if council is leaning on the development that has been promised as a result of the farmland acquisition, to fix the financial troubles, council is speculating. He said there is no evidence available to suggest it will.

“What we have found is that there hasn’t been any financial analysis done on the jobs this could create. The land assembly has moved ahead without any public meetings to demonstrate any financial or social benefits to the region.”

Lowrick said there has been no movement on the land acquisition in months and he suspects that is by design.

“My gut on this tells me that we’re simply waiting on the provincial election to come and go before they can act on it which would be a terrible situation. All this does it kick it down the road again. It causes a lot of angst with the famers and the community in general.”

Lowrick doesn’t believe an industrial development will be the economic silver bullet the township and the region think it will be.

Wilmot Township has proposed a 50.84 per cent tax increase for property owners next year. Council says it’s in an effort to refill depleted reserve funds and catch up on a growing list of capital infrastructure projects.