St. Catharines Downtown Association

There is a lot of concern among taxpayers about the amount of money the City of St. Catharines has spent, is spending or is about to spend on several big-ticket items.

A new pool and library; a new hospital; a performing arts centre; an artificial turf field at a relatively new four-pad arena; a new parking garage; two-way traffic conversion; talk of the possibility of a new arena for the Niagara IceDogs.

Toss in a few major roads projects, a convention centre in Niagara Falls and major projects at Brock University and NIagara College, and four levels of government are teaming up to throw more than $1 billion towards the region over the next couple of years.

No question, it is a lot of dough, and taxpayers are getting hit from all angles as most everybody knows, there are four levels of government, but only one taxpayer.

And the concerns are justified. The tax rate in St. Catharines-- in Niagara, for that matter-- is high.

But consider this: the taxes in this part of the world climbed to their current levels before any of these projects were on the books, and what do we have to show for it?

A decaying downtown, a collapsed manufacturing sector, high unemployment, a sluggish economy. About the only sector faring well is a healthy and robust public sector.

But the reality is unless St. Catharines (and Niagara) invests in itself, the decline will continue.

The projects on the books are big, and they are all costly.

But they will also make St. Catharines (and Niagara) a better place in which to live.

Believe it or not, prospective employers do look at the amenities a community has to offer their employees when deciding where to locate new businesses.

And believe it or not, things like a performing arts centre and a new hospital generate economic activity and create jobs.

This is money well spent, with a tangible outcome that will improve our community.

But with that said, taxpayers do need some relief.

An exercise like a true, and public, core services review would enable councillors to identify areas of savings to offset these investments and ease the impact on the tax base. And by the number of spending scandals we've seen provincially and federally in recent years, there is a lot that can be done in Ottawa and Queen's Park to pare back spending in other areas.

Please see full story in The St. Catharines Standard by K. Reid at: