The Mayor & His Deceivers

During the midterm period, politically considered a safe-zone for passing unpopular rules, regulations and taxes, News Alert Niagara railed against inflationary tax increases in multiples of the rate of inflation. Some tax increases reaching as high as 13+% compounded but not counting other levels of government taxes and fees!
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News Alert Niagara believes that raising taxes & fees 4-5-6 times the rate of inflation is predicated on inadequate husbanding of the economy and has lead to increased poverty and homelessness. 

Worse yet, we already have homeowners (and of coarse their children) living in homes falling into ever increasing state of disrepair to the point that we now have families taxed out of their homes with 22% of our children living below the poverty level.

Perhaps it was the embarrassment of the News Alert Niagara articles that caused the City of St. Catharines to sensor our emails to our City Councillors. 
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The question arises as to the origins of the laws that create this state of diminution of such a great swath of society. How does it happen? When does it happen? Without our being aware we are suddenly living under deleterious laws that are mysteriously enacted and of coarse enforced.
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Eventually society gets a notice like the following sent to all homeowners:

  WOW!

The City's Machiavellian Mandarins sends out a notice of property tax changes in your tax bill but you have to be Sherlock Holmes with forensic audit ability if you want to speak to the changes before your failing council; the same council that approved tax and fee increases in multiples of inflation! They'll be happy to tell you that this is their modern version of openness and transparency!

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The City of St. Catharines covertly

passed its major change to its property tax formula that effectively speeds up their ability to create homelessness!
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They then have the temerity to add an administration fee of over $1,075 on the back of their victim who is already financially beaten down to the point that they are losing their home!

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The problem is that no one knows when this serious tax change was quietly passed by the City of St. Catharines Council. It wasn't reported in the corporate media. Not a mention!

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So, News Alert Niagara decided to investigate.

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Our St. Catharines City Clerk informed us that the 15 page report under item #4.5 (hidden in the middle of 10 such tittles) was unanimously voted on in open session of council starting at 14:00 minute mark without discussion, public or otherwise.
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Questions: What about the other 9 items passed unanimously without public discussion? Must we ferret out every item? No wonder council meetings have been cut in half from weekly to bi-weekly! 

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Here is what we found. 

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The first thing we found is that the speed-up of the property tax scheme was improperly concocted out of public view and then passed surreptitiously. However the clerk did inform us that public notice was posted on the city website. Perhaps we missed that website notice in our tax bill!
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Second, its astonishing that our Mayor and His Deceivers supported this clandestine speed up of tax collection with their unanimous vote and even more astonishing is that they still claim Transparency.
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They rolled their new tax change scheme into a carefully contrived collection to hide their scheme from the public as can be witnessed during the open council meeting and again following the in-camera session of March 18, 2019:

https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/governin/march-18-city-council-meeting.asp
https://stcatharines.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/65517?preview=65518
Motion to Ratify Forthwith
By-Laws and Additional By-Laws.

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Third was the disappointment in learning that there are folks which we once held in high esteem among the Mayor and his Deceivers who came freshly out of an in-camera meeting and immediately concealed what they had done!

INTEGRITY IS DOING THE RIGHT THING WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING!

Should politicians tout their tax predilection as bragging rights in the next election?

PS. we held up this article 5 days for our City councilor to get back to us after his investigation. No City Councilor!